Should You Apologize For A Mistake That Wasn’t Your Fault?

Earlier this summer, I wrote about the mini-crisis I had when I found out an assignment I was researching was due that week and no one had told me. That one, I’ll admit, was largely my fault, since I didn’t ask what my deadline was.

But I learned from my mistake. After that snafu, I made a point of always asking when my assignments were due.

That’s why this recent incident is particularly frustrating. I had been assigned a small piece for a web-only supplement to an article, and told I had two weeks to do it.

But last week, I got an email from the assigning editor asking if the piece was done yet. I was a little surprised, since it was a full week and a half before the deadline I had been given, but I told the editor I would try to get it to him the next day.

I frantically sent a third follow-up email to the source I needed for the story and tried to call him multiple times, but with the time difference and other factors, he didn’t get back to me. I waited, and called, and emailed, and called other people from the organization, and crossed my fingers and prayed to the journalism gods, but by 4 p.m. the next day, I still didn’t have the interview I needed and couldn't write the piece.

Avoiding Disaster 101: The Importance of Getting Deadlines

So for the past six weeks or so, my internship has consisted largely of preliminary research – basically looking into stories and writing memos about what I find so editors can decide if the stories are worth pursuing for future issues. Sometimes I write lists of things to be made into graphics. But the point is, for the most part, I’m researching unscheduled, tentative stories, so everything is just sort of ongoing.

Imagine my surprise, then, when during a meeting I just happened to decide to attend I heard the editors discuss one of my stories, which, apparently, is scheduled for the December issue. And, apparently, the deadline for the December issue is next week. Whoa.