The Washington Post ran a story on July 30 that reported, among other things:<p>
Terrorists operating in teams of five may be plotting suicide missions to hijack commercial airliners on the East Coast, Europe or Australia this summer, possibly using "common items carried by travelers, such as cameras, modified as weapons," according to an urgent memo sent last weekend to all U.S. airlines and airport security managers.<p>A follow-up in the Post Aug. 1 said:<p>
The homeland security agency warned U.S. airlines last weekend that terrorists working in teams of five may try to hijack planes using "common items carried by travelers, such as cameras, disguised as weapons," according to the memo distributed to carriers."<p>Several other newspapers used the sentence in wire compilations, and presumably the Post was the source.<p>That morning, Lisa Stark of "ABC News" said on "Good Morning America," which I understand is a television program broadcast at a ridiculously early hour, said, according to a transcript:<p>
Especially in their specificity, they talk about teams of five possibly taking over airplanes, using everyday items such as cameras disguised as weapons.<p>Now it gets personal.<p>In a story edited by a certain copy editor that appeared Aug. 6, the Post reported:<p>
Last week, airlines were warned that al Qaeda terrorists working in teams of five might hijack an airliner with cameras disguised as weapons.<p>A colleague caught that on proof and changed it to "weapons disguised as cameras." The correction was made after the first edition.<p>Unfortunately, earlier in the Aug. 6 story was this passage, which remained:<p>
The additional screening is the latest of several measures taken to tighten airport security since the department notified airlines July 28 of a possible terrorist plot to hijack a plane using common items disguised as weapons.<p>The slot editor that night posted what appeared to be a
mea culpa on his blog:<p>
NO, NO, RELAX. I'M NOT TAKING YOUR PICTURE; THIS IS JUST A GUN!
In a front-page article (but way down in the jump, fortunately), I failed to catch a reference to al Qaeda's plans to put people on planes with cameras disguised as weapons.
Yes, I is a editor.<p>Of course, he did not catch
two such references that had made it past a copy editor who had spent better than an hour working on the story. But the
mea culpa for the Aug. 6 story should be mine. (I suppose it is, now.)<p>There must be a moral to this story other than, "Pay attention." What was it about the phrase "cameras disguised as weapons" that so many people ( a copy editor July 31, a slot on July 31, a proofer on July 31, a TV performer who presumably was reading from a clip or notes made from a clip, a copy editor on Aug. 5 and a slot on Aug. 5, not to mention various editors at other newspapers that picked up the phrase from the wire) were able to read right over it?
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