Bad attribution, British style

Par for the course, the Brit media irritated me throughout our UK trip. My favourite example was on the Banksy unmasked exclusive in the dreaded Mail on Sunday. For those who don't know, his art capers include a 2005 grand tour of NYC where he surreptiously hung his own works on the walls at the Met, MoMA, the American Museum of Natural History and Brooklyn Museum -- where they stayed unnoticed for several days.

But the exclusive left the competition in a pinch. The Telegraph picked up the story with poor attribution. Best I can tell, they did no extra reporting for their own 14-graf story, even lifted Mail on Sunday quotes without noting they were from the other paper. (I would prefer something like: "XYZ" he told the Mail on Sunday.)

The lede in the Telegraph identifies the source as "a Sunday newspaper investigation." And then finally, the sixth graf:

But a trail of evidence uncovered by the Mail on Sunday suggests that the truth about his identity may finally have been unearthed.

Unsure if the Telegraph linked to the Mail on Sunday as that page has expired and I can only see the Google cache now. But you can guess I'm betting they did not link to their competition.

Labels: media

- posted by Amy @ 7/22/2008 07:35:00 PM

 
More NYT attribution - on a military law blog

So this one's a mixed bag, but mostly a thumbs up for the New York Times. ...

Hed: In Court Ruling/On Execustions,/A Factual Flaw
Subhed: Blog Points to a Change/Justices Overlooked

To start, give the paper credit for getting "blog" in the subhed. In the third graf comes the first reference to "(a) military law blog" -- though unfortunately the blog is never named in the story.

In the last half-paragraph before the jump (in the print version) it refers to "a post over the weekend on the blog run by Dwight Sullivan, a colonel in the Marine Corps Re- (jump) serve who now works for ..."

In print, this annoyed me: "He titled his blog post "The Supremes Dis the Military Justice System." Still no mention of the blog's name.

But then online, lo and behold, the paper actually hotlinks the title of the blog post to the blog itself.

However, there's no mention of the title of the blog, which is CAAFlog. That's really akin to quoting a Bob Woodward story and saying it was printed in a Washington newspaper.

And my apologies that I'm only picking on the New York Times thus far. There's much more nits to pick online, offline, MSM, blog-wise and in the "wire reports."

Labels: media

- posted by Amy @ 7/02/2008 07:50:00 AM

 
On attribution, linking and fairness

I've been thinking a lot about attribution (and linking) lately and how to create a better standard on the web. It's hard to get the hobby blogger to comply to non-existent rules when even the big guys aren't generous themselves.

This story annoys:

Missouri Town Finds Drug Agent Is Really an Impostor.

Currently it's the centerpiece at NYTimes.com.

Here's the fifth graf:

But after a reporter for the local weekly newspaper made a few calls about that claim, Gerald’s anti-drug campaign abruptly unraveled after less than five months.

Then finally at pararaphs 23 and 24, you find out who really did the legwork:

When Linda Trest, 51, a reporter at The Gasconade County Republican, started hearing complaints from people whose homes had been searched, she began making inquiries about Mr. Jakob.

“Once I got his name, I hit the computer and within an hour I had all the dirt on this guy,” Ms. Trest said.

Not that the NYTimes links to them, but the Gasconade County Republican does have a website. And one would think a link would be decent, though I'd say I'd would be far more fair if Trest got credit by name and newspaper at least in graf five.

Likewise, on June 15, the top right of A1 in the NYT was this very long story:

In ’74 Thesis, the Seeds of McCain’s War Views

In paragraph 36 you find out where the Times got the report the story hinges on:

The paper was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and provided to The New York Times by Matt Welch, an author of a book about Mr. McCain.

Wow, thanks. So Welch does the FoIA request, and then gives you the report and not only do you bury that in graf 36, but you don't even mention the name of the book, which only came out in October? Ouch.

And of course if you don't name it, it's hard to link to it, huh?

McCain: The Myth of a Maverick.

(Matt by the way, one of my cronies from college, mentions this incident on the Reason blog (where's he's editor) and on his personal site (as it relates to the Los Angeles Times.)

Labels: media

- posted by Amy @ 6/30/2008 07:25:00 PM

 
Bringing back the 'Balkanization'

I'm watching CNN's footage of the mess in Belgrade. Maybe it was inevitable, but still very heartbreaking.

Reminds me of two things in particular from my time living in Europe.

First, there was an extremely annoying train ride in May 1992 I took solo from Athens to Prague. It was epic in the number of things that went wrong, (including a train conductor who pinned me against the window as he triend to stick his tongue down my throat,) but the problems leaving Belgrade had to do with another amorous gentleman. This guy was a Serb, a passenger sitting next to me. Early on, I slipped the fake wedding band on and feigned sleep. That didn't stop him, as he continually jabbed my shoulder to ask questions -- from would I have sex with him since my husband wasn't on the train to "When are the Americans going to come and help us?"

That was a question I certainly wasn't going to answer. The U.S. had just closed our embassy there, and I had been worried I wasn't going to be able to get a transit visa through Serbia (allowing me to get back to Prague in time for the Guns 'N Roses/Faith No More/Soundgarden concert.)

What I was thinking, but wouldn't say, was that 1) The Americans probably aren't coming, and 2) if they do, it will be to bomb your city. (Which eventually the U.S. did.)

His total ignorance of the situation was surprising.

The other thing that comes to mind is well, rather quaint in retrospect. This is a Prognosis story, the English-language newspaper I worked for in Czechoslovakia. I believe we sent three guys down to Slovenia/Croatia in June 1991 to report what turned out to be the very first battle of the decade-long (or ongoing, if you prefer) Balkan War. Prognosis was a monthly publication at the time (only about the fourth or fifth issue of the paper actually,) and we had looong meetings trying to decide on the wording of the banner headline. Basically it came down to "War in the Balkans" but the final debate was weather to go with or without the question mark. Because, we reasoned, the "war" could be over on Wednesday and we'd have a stale paper on the stands for three weeks.

And by the way, the defunct Prognosis now has a Facebook page.

And Google books will let you have a look inside Stacy Sullivan's 2004 book: "Be Not Afraid, for You Have Sons in America: How a Brooklyn Roofer Helped Lure the U.S. into the Kosovo War"

Labels: media, politics, prague

- posted by Amy @ 2/21/2008 02:11:00 PM

 
Roger Murdoch's blogging

So Tony Pierce helped turn Kareem into a blogger for the LA Times. Can't tell you what a great read he is, go check for yourself.

Just now I was having a look at the comments on a post about exercise tips for guys over 50. They're all really nice, smart. And then, sheer brilliance, this:

I think you're the greatest, but my dad says you don't work hard enough on defense. And he says that lots of times, you don't even run down court. And that you don't really try... except during the playoffs.

Or as my husband put it last week when I told him that Kareem Abdul Jabbar is now blogging for the LA Times: Is that the guy from "Airplane"?

Watch the whole cockpit scene here.

Labels: media

- posted by Amy @ 2/16/2008 04:01:00 PM

 
Metroblogging NYC sponsoring WNYC?

This morning's dollar-for-dollar sponsor on WNYC's pledge drive was ... "Metroblogging NYC."

I'm totally confused. Do they mean this site?

(BTW, the sponsorship means that if you call in and pledge $100 to the public radio station, Metroblogging NYC kicks in another $100.)

Labels: media, nyc

- posted by Amy @ 2/14/2008 07:53:00 AM

 
Media notes: cronies, buying fire pictures, pretend news

A couple quick things of interest. ...

* My friend Heesun Wee has a new Yahoo interactive up on Korean "comfort" women.

* Another college friend -- Matt Welch's book on John McCain is out. I'm just a little ways in so far. ...

* Was impressed to see that as part of the LA Daily News fire coverage, you can make an online order for any of the pictures from their staff fire photo galleries.

* And this press release from a PR company showed up in my in box. Will be interesting to Google it in a month and see which "news" outlets use it and which ones don't bother to note they're basically running a press release verbatim. It starts this way:

Dear Editor:

We hope you will consider running this bylined article by Emil Grosso of Sebastians (Boston): "A Step by Step Guide to Choosing the Best Caterer for Your Holiday Needs By Emil Grosso, President, Sebastians Café and Catering.

This article focuses on how to select the perfect caterer now that the holidays are around the corner.

The bylined article appears below. ...

A Step by Step Guide to Choosing the Best Caterer for Your Holiday Needs
By Emil Grosso, President, Sebastians Café and Catering
With the holidays just around the corner, well-informed hosts know to book their caterers early to ensure the success of their parties and events. The right caterer can make or break a get together, ...

Labels: books, los angeles, media

- posted by Amy @ 11/02/2007 11:13:00 AM

 
Newspapers, this is how you should do it now

Editors still trying to figure out what do do with the Internet should pay close attention to the goings-on of late at the New York Times. This morning's example:

Labels: media

- posted by Amy @ 8/22/2007 09:01:00 AM

 
California notes

Some bad California papering news. The LA Daily News is closing two of its suburban bureaus, including the one I used to work at in Santa Clarita, (and wrote the first Newhall Ranch water story.)

Earlier this summer, another paper way back on my resume, the Bakersfield Californian, said it was closing its Sacramento bureau, also for financial reasons.

Rather scary that there's now more media than ever, yet no one wants to pay for the mundane watchdog local journalism that's really at the heart of a democracy.

But in other Bakersfield news, Korn played a free show at the South Street Seaport in NYC yesterday evening. In their pre-show 5-question interview with J&R Music, they give the props to my (and their) hometown. (Though in language mother won't approve of.)

Labels: bakersfield, media

- posted by Amy @ 8/01/2007 08:24:00 AM

 
Free press problems, college style

Looks like my old college paper, the Daily Nexus, is having a little problem with the student government unclear on the whole concept of a free press. If only they would just print what we want, like maybe giving us a free weekly column to promote ourselves, we'd be happy to give them the money the students voted to give them.

Labels: media, nexus, ucsb

- posted by Amy @ 1/19/2007 02:24:00 PM