Blogs often get the raw end of the deal from avid readers when mistakes are made in posts. That criticism is then usually coupled with a remark that belittles the blogosphere and puts daily newspapers on a pedestal as the real form of journalism. However, as we’ve indicated on several occasions, daily newspapers are guilty of mistakes too and sometimes, as in the example we’re about to show you, they’re guilty of embarrassing mistakes of cataclysmic proportions.

In Thursday’s edition of The Daily Star, a tabloid newspaper in England, “journalist” Dave Armitage has written a match report regarding Wednesday night’s exciting Carling Cup match between Blackburn Rovers and Chelsea. However, the article in question is guilty of the following horrendous mistakes:

  1. The headline and article reports that Didier Drogba takes Chelsea into the quarter-final of the Carling Cup. However, Blackburn Rovers won the game on penalties,
  2. The article says the final score was 2-2. Yes, the score in regulation was 2-2, but the game went into extra time and ended 3-3 and then went to penalties which Blackburn won 4-3,
  3. The article states that by winning, Chelsea made it into the quarter-finals. The game Wednesday night was a quarter-final. By beating Chelsea, Blackburn has qualified for the semi-final of the Carling Cup!

Don’t be surprised if the article in The Daily Star is updated in the early morning hours to correct their mistakes, but a screenshot of the article is saved for posterity (see above).

I can only imagine that some poor soul got the match report at a late hour from the reporter but didn’t realize it wasn’t the final version of the story. However there should be no excuse for such a catastrophic mistake. We all have heard about the London bias and bias towards Big Four clubs, but this is taking it a little bit too far. In the meantime, congratulations to Blackburn Rovers on a well-deserved win even if The Daily Star would lead you to believe otherwise.