Yesterday, news organizations across the country published a hilarious Associated Press story claiming that the Four Corners marker -- the tourist attraction that allows folks to pose for photos with limbs in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah simultaneously -- was 2.5 miles from where it's supposed to be. But these media outfits aren't laughing today. The Denver Post and oodles of other newspapers, websites, etc., are currently running the following correction:
SALT LAKE CITY--In an April 20 story about the location of the Four Corners marker, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the monument is 2.5 miles west of where it should be. Instead, according to Dave Doyle of the National Geodetic Survey, the monument marking the intersection of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah is about 1,807 feet east of where it should have been placed in 1875. Doyle says the monument's location has been legally adopted by all the states as the official corner.
Such a massive and embarrassing botch comes at a particularly bad time for the Associated Press. After all, a number of news agencies, including Metro USA, have dropped the AP in recent weeks to save money -- a trend the service is trying to fight by lowering fees and beefing up its campaign to fight web piracy. As far as I can tell, these efforts are about 1,807 feet east of where they should be -- but I could be wrong about that.
