Italy’s Bartoli cruises into third round in Berlin  

Italy’s Bartoli took just over 50 minutes at the Steffi Graf Stadium to become the first player to reach the third round of the $1.3 million clay-court tournament.

Your headline and story are incorrect. Marion Bartoli is a French tennis player, not Italian.

V.C.  

You’re right, of course. We corrected. GBU Editor

REUTERS photo by Danny Moloshok

Devil Rays sweep Red Sox with 3-0 win

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Reuters) - James Shields pitched a two-hit shutout on Sunday as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays completed a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 3-0 victory.

The headline on this article is so WRONG!!! Did your editor even READ the article?? Did he LOOK at the headline?? The team is no longer refered to as the “Devil” Rays. They have dropped any reference to Devil from the stadium, uniforms, locker room, everything.

Heck, the featured picture even shows clearly “RAYS” right across the front.

W.C.M.

Please let your reporter know that the correct name for the MLB team in Tampa Bay, Florida is the RAYS, not the Devil Rays. Maybe he hasn’t been covering baseball since the name change was announced, so please let him know.

A Fan

Lots of people noticed this one. We are aware of the change, and hope we don’t make this error again: GBU Editor

REUTERS photo by Steve Nesius

Obama hits out at Clinton for negative campaign 

Hits out… who ever heard of such a thing?  I guess you will save the term “LASHES OUT” for the Republican candidate?

Michael

What does “hits out” mean? I’ve never used “hits out” in my life and I have never heard anyone use it. 

B.E.

It’s not terribly obscure. My dictionary includes the following as one definition for the word hit: “to assail effectively and sharply (often fol. by out): The speech hits out at warmongering.” GBU Editor

REUTERS photo by Frank Polich 

I  don’t believe this event was held at the White House, was it?…

A Washingtonian

You’re right. We had plenty of journalists at the thing, so this was a bit embarrassing. We corrected: GBU Editor

REUTERS photo by Jonathan Ernst  

U.S. forces free AP photographer in Iraq after 2 yrs

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer working for the Associated Press in Iraq was freed from U.S. military custody on Wednesday after being held without charge for two years, the news agency said.

Your headline should have read, “U.S. forces release AP photographer in Iraq after 2 years.” Funny how this small change makes what really happen so much clearer. Was this “Spin” to obscure the real facts, or an oversight?

Bill S. An oversight, and you make a fair point. Our original headline was ambiguous, and readers could have concluded that someone else was holding the photographer until U.S. forces rescued him. We subsequently issued the story with the headline you suggested: GBU Editor

REUTERS photo by Andrea Comas

Pope Ground Zero prayer seeks terrorists’ redemption

“Turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred.”

I read with interest your article on the heartfelt words of the Pope at 911’s ground zero. I found nothing in the article to substantiate your headline, which implies the Pope was seeking absolution for the 911 terrorists.

1. The Pope makes no reference to the 911 terrorists.

2. There is nothing in the article regarding forgiveness or salvation for those involved.The picture you paint in your headline is skewed given the Pope’s actual words as quoted. Headlines shout the essential meaning of your articles and you appeared to have played fast and easy with the factual content of this particular article.

John E. 

Several readers objected to our leap of faith, so to speak, in interpreting this section of the prayer. Our religion writers stand behind their decision. There is a very interesting ongoing discussion of this very question on getreligion.com. It’s worth reading if you’re interested, but that blog’s editor concludes: ”At first I thought that was a bad headline, but now I think that it does capture the essence of the text.” GBU Editor

REUTERS photo by Max Rossi

Priest pleads guilty to stalking TV host O’Brien

Ajemian pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of disorderly conduct after prosecutors withdrew charges of aggravated harassment and stalking, misdemeanors that are punishable by up to 90 days in jail. The guilty plea allowed him to avoid a trial.

The headline of your story seems incorrect, since the body of the story says they withdrew the stalking charge.

 John

You’re right. We corrected: GBU Editor
 

British toddler better after swallowing detergent

Does your headline somehow imply the toddler has been improved by the swallowing of detergent?

Evil Scribbler

That was not a great headline. We replaced it: GBU Editor