Fundamentals

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com An article on Saturday about the Pentagon's search for military bases in the United States that could replace the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, misstated the size of Fort Leavenworth, Kan., one base under consideration. It is 8.8 square miles -- not eight miles by eight miles, or 64 square miles. These are, to be blunt, pathetically stupid mistakes. A reasonably bright junior high school student would know that Bulgaria is in the Balkans and an eight square mile area is not eight miles by eight miles. But these errors were made by a New York Times reporter and approved by at least one New York Times editor. No one with this basic lack of arithmetic and geographic knowledge would last for a week in the business world, yet such ignorance flourishes in the world of journalism. And that is, in my opinion, the most fundamental problem with American journalism.