5 days later, WFMY's Frank Mickens' outrageous error remains uncorrected

GREENSBORO, NC -- WFMY's Frank Mickens really blew it. He stood before his audience and told them the City of Greensboro had spent "three million on legal counsel" in attempting to reopen the White Street Landfill. That's wrong, as noted at Ed Cone's, Jeff Martin's and on this blog. The actual amount, according to official documents, is around $2,000. Mickens was only off by $2.8 million. So a pro would want to get that corrected as quickly and definitively as possible, right? For his reputation and out of respect for his audience, right?

Five days after the outlandish error, it remains uncorrected on WFMY's website and Mickens' original video remains online too, also without correction. It truly is beyond my comprehension how a professional news organization can so horribly misinform its audience then take no action to repair the wrong. Regrettably, this is not the first time for WFMY or Mickens. Previous uncorrected mistakes include:

• Math errors in calculating average length of city council meetings.
• Falsely reporting that American Express was closing its Greensboro data center.
• Erroneously reporting the number of people participating in a Facebook group, subsequently "correcting" the original error with another error.
• Erroneously reporting that an SBI investigation lead to the resignation of former Greensboro Police Chief David Wray (The chronology alone prohibiting such a conclusion..)
• Erroneously reporting that the "black book" was an illegitimate investigative tool and declining to report facts refuting that notion.

It's one thing to make mistakes, to leave them uncorrected implies immense contempt for one's audience. WFMY and Frank Mickens think you are dumb and they don't mind if you stay that way.