Hundreds of papers and Web sites use AP unedited

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Wed Oct 29, 2003 5:08 pm

DENVER -- The most powerful geomagnetic storm possible walloped the Earth early Wednesday .... (AP)***No, it didn't.***

ToddJBehme · **Posted:** Wed Oct 29, 2003 5:47 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
DENVER -- The most powerful geomagnetic storm possible walloped the Earth early Wednesday .... (AP)***No, it didn't.***<hr></blockquote>OK, I'll bite. What's wrong with it?

Jackie · **Posted:** Wed Oct 29, 2003 6:29 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Todd J. Behme:
OK, I'll bite. What's wrong with it?<hr></blockquote>I'm guessing that the most powerful geomagnetic storm possible would wipe out Earth? Or at least cause a hell of a lot more damage? Hey, I saw "Core"......

RimRat · **Posted:** Wed Oct 29, 2003 6:50 pm

The lead's a tad hyperbolic, to say the least. I wonder on what they're basing it? Are they saying this is the worst such "storm" in the several billion years Earth has been around? Just wondering....

gullyj · **Posted:** Wed Oct 29, 2003 7:21 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
DENVER -- The most powerful geomagnetic storm possible walloped the Earth early Wednesday .... (AP)***No, it didn't.***<hr></blockquote>Now I understand all the forks and spoons sticking to my forehead early Wednesday but I sure don't remember any wallop.

RimRat · **Posted:** Wed Oct 29, 2003 7:44 pm

I thought that was normal in Toronto....

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu Oct 30, 2003 2:58 pm

Discredit where discredit is due: Hundreds of newspapers did not run the AP "most powerful geomagnetic storm possible" line unedited, but these U.S. newspapers did:Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald
Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald
Philadelphia Daily News
State (Columbia, S.C.)Canadian editors were less careful:Calgary Herald (Alberta, Canada)
Edmonton Sun
Guardian (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island)
Guelph Mercury (Ontario, Canada)
Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan),
Ottawa Citizen
Record (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario)
Standard (St. Catharines, Ontario)
Star Phoenix (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)
Toronto Sun
Vancouver Sun

RimRat · **Posted:** Thu Oct 30, 2003 4:33 pm

Thanks to your heads up, there was one less newspaper in Canada that got it wrong. I made sure it was edited out of the A1 story....

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:38 pm

One Australian paper got this beautifully right on its front page. (Edited to fix URL--blanp)[ October 30, 2003: Message edited by: blanp ]

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Thu Oct 30, 2003 6:44 pm

Darn , the internet version is different than the newspaper's front page, which reads as follows: It took just 19 hours for the giant cloud of charged particles from a massive solar flare travelling at up to 8 million kmh to reach the Earth. And when it hit, it put on a spectacular show a multi-coloured aurora australis curtain not often visible from this country. The 20-minute display was captured on camera by David Finlay about 10pm on Wednesday, from a dark vantage point at Robertson in the Southern Highlands. ``It looked like curtains of light coming out of the ground it was short but very sweet," said Mr Finlay, secretary of the Wollongong Amateur Astronomy Club. When the particles slammed into the Earth's magnetic field they caused the atmosphere to become charged and glow over the northern and southern poles. ``If we were in Antarctica, we would see aurora very frequently," Mr Finlay said. ``Most of the time we can't see them in Australia because we aren't very close to the South Pole." A second, weaker solar flare is expected to cause another aurora, possibly visible tonight. But a clear view south will be needed, and no city light pollution.

gullyj · **Posted:** Thu Oct 30, 2003 7:51 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by RimRat:
I thought that was normal in Toronto....<hr></blockquote>....the long-term effect of an extended Uri Geller performance.
Toronto Star changed "possible" to "measurable," whatever that means.

RimRat · **Posted:** Thu Oct 30, 2003 8:53 pm

We just changed it to "A powerful geomagnetic storm walloped Earth...." blah blah blah. Didn't lose much from dropping the Chicken Little words from the AP lead.And since Toronto is the centre of the known universe, shouldn't the storm have originated there?

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