Journalists, check your facts before publishing!

This is a line that have been said so many times. But some people just never get the true meaning behind it.
In the May edition of Inside Sport, a jourstlist Peter McAllister has denialled his mistakes on the article published two months ago when a reader pointed out the errors.
unfortunately I could not get a hold of the march edition of the magazine. But according to some quotes the reader selected from the article "20 reasons to boycott Beijing", Mr McAllister really needs to get his facts straight.
The date Spring Festival was been questioned by Mr McAllister in his article. When Weh Yeoh pointed out the reason, Mr McAllister turned around and said, "is my unfamiliarity with the Chinese calendar a sin? At least I took the trouble to read up on what I was talking about".
I have to admit, I hav never seen anyone with an attitude like this. When you make a mistake, correct it. Why even bother to cover it up when it is so obvious that you are the wrong one?
Speaking on the journalistic term, when reporting a story about a country and its culture, it is a sin when the journalist is not familiar with the calendar the country uses. If someone writes about the Islamic main festival Eid Al-Fitr and questions its date, I believe that is the silliest mistake a journalist could make.
Other than that, Mr McAllister questioned the Chinese Government's policy on two children only for the Urghur families in North-west of China, saying the government is trying to breed out the nation. He ignored the fact that the Hans are only allowed one child per family but let the minority groups have special consideration.
When Mr McAllister was proven mistaken again, he pulled out the fact that Urghur people favour large family for up to eight children per couple. I would like to question him, if Australia has 1.3 billion people on its land and every couple still wants eight children in their family, would it be okay with him. The reason the Chinese Government restricted birth for its people is that the nation can no longer handle the capacity of such large number and still at growth. Mr McAllister ignored the fact again and accused the Chinese Government without investigation. Or perhaps Mr McAllister just wanted to make himself sound good and manipulated the truth.
There are more error and debate to that article. I can not point them all out or it will take too much space and time. In general, I just wish everybody remember to check their facts before you decide to publish your story.

By Nancy Huang