Posted on 04/22/2005 1:02:35 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
NEW YORK An article posted today on the Los Angeles Times Web site gives a mixed picture of Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom, who has been under fire for writing a column in the past tense set at a basketball game that hadn't happened yet.
The Times article -- a freelance piece by former Free Press staffer David Lyman -- reported that reader mail has been running 4-1 in Albom's favor since the scandal broke. But people who formerly worked at the Free Press have more varied views of Albom.
Lyman quoted Terry Foster, now a columnist for The Detroit News, as saying: "There were the Mitch rules and then there were the rules for everybody else. Mitch meant more to the Free Press than anybody else, which created lots of resentment from other reporters."
One example cited by Lyman was that a former Free Press copy editor was told to go easy on Albom's columns. Lyman wrote that the orders were basically: "Spell-check them. Make sure there are no glaring errors. But if there were any substantive questions, don't ever approach Albom. Refer them to his editor and then forget it. The message was clear. Albom was a golden boy who was accountable to no one but himself."
Foster was also quoted as saying: "Mitch is a very talented writer. And sometimes he out-writes you. But sometimes he writes things that just seem too good to be true. My opinion? I think they're going to find things they'll question. My gut is that he will resign."
Another former Free Press writer, Joe LaPointe of The New York Times, said of Albom: "I'm baffled by the whole thing. When I worked with him, he was maybe the hardest-working sports columnist I ever saw. He was everywhere -- at Red Wings practice, at Tigers games. He really did work. But I just don't get this. I understand the thing about the deadline problem, but it would have been so easy to write it a different way."
Lyman also noted that there is some anger at Albom stemming from the 1995 strike, during which the columnist crossed the picket line. Others who were quoted say there's a gap between Albom's public and private persona. The Times article mentioned that one student quit an internship at WJR radio after Albom threw a computer keyboard at her.
"The flip side is that, in print and on the air, Albom connects with readers in a way that is uncommon in modern journalism," wrote Lyman. "Critics say his writing is formulaic, but clearly it is a formula that touches readers deeply. Albom may be a millionaire megastar. But to readers, he's one of their own, and they want to know what he has to say."
Albom, who's syndicated by Tribune Media Services, is on paid leave while the Free Press investigates his past-tense column and the editing process that allowed it to get into the paper unchanged. Albom's body of work is also being scrutinized.
Writing about an event as if it happened. While it is sports, it still wrong. At least that is my thought.
He will no doubt remain with the paper, and folks will forgive.
We are going to find out that a lot of what he wrote was made up out of thin air. 'Tuesdays with Morrie' might have happened on Fridays for all we know.
In a world in which the NY Times, LA Times, et al daily print all levels of slander, half-truths, and out and out lies to support "their" causes... yeah... Albom's offense is really troubling. The guy made a stupid (or lazy) mistake on a fact that was not even important to the story. Puh-leeze.
Albom is the classic prima donna. His show on WJR can be unlistenable at times especially when he's plugging his books, movies or plays. "Tuesdays with Morrie" gets some kind of mention every single day. And care to guess where his show leans politically?
Well, I don't like the liberal chump, Mitch Albom, but the fact is that
The Free Press should take a hard look at Albom's work. Integrity matters -- ask CBS. If he makes a habit of fudging details, even if it's not at the same level as Stephen Glass or Janet Cook, he should be fired.
And an interesting tidbit about the Free Press and News: they actually share a building and publish a joint weekend edition, but are otherwise completely seperate (everyone has to stay on their own side of the building).
Most of what I've seen of Albom is him on TV railing against all things Bobby Knight. Seems like an incredible pipsqueak.
He had a really STUPID show on MSNBC about 4 years ago. Big Lefty too....DUH.
Could've been Wednesday nooners with Boopsie.
I don't know about that. E & P is hanging him out to dry here. Normally they're about the biggest apologists out there for media leftists. If they won't support him, then the jig is probably up for him.
From the article-
Lyman also noted that there is some anger at Albom stemming from the 1995 strike, during which the columnist crossed the picket line.
They may have just found a way to make him pay for crossing that line.
And how many other stupid or lazy mistakes has he made over the years, and on how many facts that were important to the story?
If we're ever going to have any sort of accountability from the MSM (doubtful), you've got to hammer their asses every time one of them gets caught. Assuming they'll never change, if nothing else you take them down one at a time, and make the rest of the scumbags look over their shoulders a little bit harder next time they pass off a pack of lies and distortions as a news story.
The guy is a shrill, whiny, hypocritical liberal maximus. This issue is no surprise for someone living in a wished-for world. His afternnon spiel on WJR is as hard to listen to as is Al Franken. He had a National Council of Churches rep on today, bashing...guess who...can you guess?
OMG, I heard that! He had absolutly NO idea who and what the Natl co of Churches even is.
Every single time I listen to him I hear a factual errors thru out his show.
I really believe he is a good hearted liberal who is so busy with plays, books, ect, that he never, ever, researches an issue.
Hey, Mitch, if you're interested:
The National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (or NCC) is an organization currently (2004) consisting of 36 Protestant, Anglican, and Orthodox Christian denominations. They are widely associated with the ecumenical movement within Christianity, and meet annually in a general assembly, with several other meetings each year by a smaller executive board. Among their contributions are the translation of the Revised Standard Version and the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the publication of an annual Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, and extensive work on peace and social justice issues (work that has earned the National Council of Churches a reputation as a left-wing organization among some more conservative Christian denominations). - Wikipedia
ecumenical movement: unity (by bending to society).
translation: the Bible their way.
extensive work: works-driven, not word-driven.
denominations: gay-blessing Episcopal USA, UCC, ELCA, etc.
Why not have Kenny search on it and see what people are saying (both ways) about the NCC?
Mitch is to have a statement about this today, maybe on his show. He's not saying anything else until after the statement.
Well, no mea culpa yet, but he's firmly establishing his leftist walking orders. He's now bashing Justice Sunday, right on cue. He just asked the leftist (Methodist) minister guest why the Christian Right has become such a political entity over the last several decades. I guess he's just blind to the communists that moved into the Democrat party after McCarthy began flushing them out, and that are using queerness to soften up our society for the final act.
He also thinks his co-host Kenny trying to get out of jury duty is quite humorous. Nice citizenship modeling, guys. I can't believe WJR keeps them.
I understand he writes for a Jewish magazine, too. They like a guy that regularly bashes those that support Israel? I'm missing something.
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