Who's Hu?

Sometimes, the carelessness as reflected in the errors of the newspapers makes you wonder whether the editors and journalists bother to verify or even proofread the articles.
One of the most blatant and hilarious instances is the “Whose Hu” blunder a few months ago, where South China Morning Post, Hong Kong's leading English newspaper, translated Chinese President Hu Jintao's name as "Hu Jia", which is the name of a prominent Chinese dissident in the front page.

And there are frequently other less high profile but equally glaring errors. Take the two court cases discussed in the blog yesterday, for example. A local blogger spotted the following discrepancies in reported 'facts' between the two English newspapers in Hong Kong, The Standard and the South China Morning Post:

• The age of the defendant of the first case: The Standard says 33, the SCM Post says 34
• The fine the defendant of the second case has to pay: The Standard says HKD12,000, the SCM Post says HKD15,000
• The compensation the family of the defendant of the second case paid to the injured taxi driver: The Standard says HKD180,000, the SCM Post says HKD288,000

Which left the blogger wondering whether the reporters went to the same court hearings.

Or, look at the article below, published recently in The Standard. While the name referred to in the headline is "Kevin", the whole article was about a teenager called "Kelvin Lee Chin-kin".

The newspaper should be happy that in this case it is not the Chinese President's name they have meddled with.