Verifying Obituaries
Should publications verify information in obituaries before they print them? Harvard Magazine, the alumni magazine for Harvard College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, printed a correction in their latest edition for an obituary they printed two years ago because the person, Erik Humphrey Gordon, is not dead. According to a statement attributed to Gordon published elsewhere on the Web, he wanted to get off of Harvard’s solicitation lists. After trying legitimate means for years, he returned a piece of mail to Harvard with “Recipient Deceased” on it. Harvard Magazine learned of Gordon’s “death” and sent his family a letter asking the to write an obit for the magazine. Gordon did.
When I shared this piece with one of my coworkers, he immediately asked, “Is it really Harvard Magazine’s error if they were supplied false information?” Is it their place to apologize for the error if they were sent false information?
