Shaw: Papers should query story subjects on accuracy

In his Sunday L.A. Times media column, David Shaw wonders why more newspapers don't send letters to the subjects of their articles, asking if the published facts were correct. One of the editors he asks about it is his own:

"John Carroll, editor of the Los Angeles Times, says he sent out such 'accuracy and fairness' letters when he was editor of the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader and 'didn't feel it was particularly useful.' 'I have no objection to it in principle,' Carroll said, 'but it's just not one of the arrows in our quiver right now.'"