How to detect lies in your newspaper (Not quite a barf alert, more like heartburn)

USA TODAY ^ | May 23, 2003 | Al Neuharth

[Timesink]

For 106 years, the venerable New York Times has carried this slogan on page one: "All the News That's Fit to Print."

Now, The Times has published more than four full pages of apologies for dozens of articles that weren't fit to print. The Times says the stories, over a three-year span, were full of "fraud" and "fabrication." The reporter who wrote them, Jayson Blair, 27, was forced to resign.

[Timesink]

Allow me to simplify:

How to detect lies in your newspaper

1) Does your newspaper have ink on its pages, or are they blank?

[Timesink]

Schadenfreude

This is the New York Times Schadenfreude Ping List. Freepmail me to be added or dropped.

[liberalnot]

al's one of "them" himself.

[Mr. Bird]

He's right, of course. I think editors have a responsibility to force reporters to, at the very least, disclose the identity of the source to the editor and to confirm statements that appear dubious. News media should publish a key that clarifies what "White House sources" and "highly placed Administration officials" actually are. I have no doubt that more than one reporter has used a janitor or cook as a "White House source", particularly when quoting an opinion.

[GOPJ]

BINGO (for the non-affirmative action part of the problem):

"The problem can be traced to the '70s, when The Times followed the example of The Washington Post in soliciting anonymous sources during the Watergate era."

[Grampa Dave]

"When a reputable newspaper lies, it poisons the community. Every other newspaper story becomes suspect. Anyone stung by a newspaper story feels emboldened to call it a lie. Facts are not only impugned but made impotent. . . . The lie--the fabricated event, the made-up quote, the fictitious source--is the nightmare of any respected newsroom. It is intolerable not only because it discredits publications but because it debases communication, and democracy."

NY Slimes Editorial, The New York Slimes - April 17, 1981

This New York Slimes editorial was written, when the Washington Compost didn't check the sources re the Pulitzer Scam of reporter Janet Cooke, a female Jayson Blair.

[Grampa Dave]

How to detect lies in your newspaper!

* The anonymous source, if in fact one exists, generally is a coward who tells more than he or she knows.

* The reporter permitted to use such sources often writes more than he or she hears.

The only sure way to separate fact from fiction is to ban all anonymous sources. If your newspaper uses them, be very, very skeptical.

[laurav]

Wow - I didn't know USA Today was OK with using the word "S***" in its copy. I guess if you're the former publisher, you can get away with a lot.

A decent piece, and about time from Al. This is the guy who, a few months ago, wrote a column about his use of adult diapers. He is senile and holding onto his column with an iron-clad, if demented grip.

[laurav]

For the most part, I don't think USA Today uses anonymous sources. More "high brow" papers, such as the Washington Post and NY Times, are apparently exempt from the rules of good journalism.

[GOPJ]

You're sooooooo right.

Posted by laurav to GOPJ On News/Activism ^ 05/23/2003 4:50 PM EDT #9 of 9 ^ For the most part, I don't think USA Today uses anonymous sources. More "high brow" papers, such as the Washington Post and NY Times, are apparently exempt from the rules of good journalism.

[Vetnet]

This just in:
THE NEW YORK TIMES has found a replacement that guarantees to bring them to an EVEN HIGHER LEVEL OF EXCELLENCE than they were known for, before all this trouble occurred:

"YES SIR MR RAINES, I'LL GET RIGHT ON IT!!!"