Posted on 04/11/2005 7:25:44 AM PDT by Pikamax
No one's defending renowned journalist Peers, educators critical of Detroit's Mitch Albom for reporting something that didn't happen
By Michael Hirsley, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Ed Sherman and columnist Mike Downey contributed Published April 10, 2005
Mitch Albom, one of Detroit's most prominent figures, is a one-man multimedia entity as a nationally known sports columnist, radio and TV personality, best-selling author and playwright.
He added another role this week--one no journalist wants.
Albom is making news rather than reporting it, under suspension from the Detroit Free Press until the newspaper completes an investigation of a fabrication in an Albom column that ran last Sunday.
Reaction in the journalism community, from columnist peers to college instructors, ranged from harsh to empathetic. But no one excused or forgave Albom's or his copy editors' errors in judgment. And no one dismissed those mistakes as insignificant.
Randy Harvey, the Baltimore Sun's assistant managing editor for sports, admires Albom's talent, but expects him to lose his job over the incident.
"I don't see how they will have any choice at the end of their investigation but to fire Mitch and the editor or editors who read the column before it was published," Harvey said.
"I think it's very sad, very serious and very disappointing," said Karen Brown Dunlap, president of the Poynter Institute, a think tank for professional journalists. "And this was done by a very fine writer with a great reputation and a lengthy career. This was not a new reporter in journalism."
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
What Albom did was write a column as if his two interview subjects were at the Michigan State-North Carolina NCAA tournament Final Four game in St. Louis on April 2. In earlier interviews, former Michigan State players Jason Richardson and Mateen Cleaves told Albom they planned to attend the game, but they did not.
Filing on Friday for a section that was printed by Saturday morning, several hours before the game, Albom wrote, and copy editors did not change, that Richardson and Cleaves had flown in for the game and were in the stands wearing Michigan State clothing.
The column emphasized how much Cleaves and Richardson missed their college experiences. It turned out schedule conflicts kept both players from attending the game.
"It's not viewed as a minor infraction because in the minds of the editors, it was a fabrication," Free Press public editor John X. Miller said of the column gaffe. "More than being factually wrong, this was something reported that did not happen."
I don't understand the uproar about this. Reporters lie all the time! So what's new?
My thoughts exactly. If you couldn't make up stories the NYT would have nothing to publish.
What next? He never actually spent those Tuesdays with Morrie?
I don't know. The problem with journalism is not a few bad apples who make up stories -- those people get exposed and fired. The problem is the way they choose the stories to print -- they pick the ones that support liberal points, while they ignore the ones with a conservative message. The Times is one of the worst offenders. And firing a few bad apples won't change that.
If they fire Albom for a small fabrication, then they can create the impression that they are superserious about the truth. In that way, their readers will be more inclined to believe the next pack of lies they tell about the President.
That they are going after this guy for a crime so common (and, unquestioned) in the old-timey, left wing, neocommunist media, suggests to me that there is a core reason for the attack. Did he say something positive about Tom DeLay, did he hint at some dem mendacity, did he insist that his bookie pay off, is there a relative of the mayor who wants his job? There has to be a real reason! It can't just be because he fudged/faked/made up news!
I've heard this guy on the radio for a few years. I can only take his bulls**t in small doses. He's gauranteed to be on the wrong (leftist) side of any issue. The only time I can stomach his banter is when he keeps his focus on sports. That's really all he knows.
I never could understand the adulation he received for the two insipid books he wrote (Tuesdays... and The Ten People...). It just goes to show you that any idiot with a leftist viewpoint is sure to find some way to get his tripe published.
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