"When I grow up I want to be just like Mr. Rather"
Posted on 07/27/2005 6:25:26 PM PDT by Cagey
EDEN — Dave Matthews isn’t Emma Burgin’s favorite band, so the Greensboro woman was surprised when her photo appeared in The Reidsville Review with a comment, attributed to her, saying that it was.
She was surprised because no one at the newspaper ever interviewed her.
Burgin’s photo, and photos of some other young people who have appeared in the newspaper, were copied from Thefacebook.com, a college social networking Web site.
Burgin is one of at least six people — none of whom live in Rockingham County — whose photos appeared in the newspaper’s daily man-on-the-street feature, “Two Cents Worth,” during May.
Each day, “Two Cents Worth,” which appears on the front page, features one person’s photo with his or her response to a question of the day.
Some of those whose photos were taken from the Web site know each other from working together at The Daily Tar Heel, the campus newspaper at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Brook Corwin and Michael Pucci, two reporters for The Reidsville Review, both attended UNC-C H and worked on the campus newspaper.
On Thefacebook.com, both reporters are listed as friends in the profiles of a few of the people who turned up in The Reidsville Review.
Three of them contacted Tuesday said they know Corwin and Pucci but were not interviewed by either.
Burgin, who now is a Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service reporting intern in Washington, said Tuesday that she recently received a “professional apology” from Corwin for using her photo and name.
Corwin had no comment Tuesday, except to say reporters had been told not to talk to the News & Record.
“There are a lot of things I want to say if I felt that I wouldn’t get fired for saying them,” Corwin said.
Pucci also declined to comment except to say the matter had been dealt with internally.
The newspaper is owned by Media General , which also owns the Eden Daily News and a weekly in Madison called The Messenger. The reporters work for all three papers.
Neither Publisher Ellen Ishmael nor Executive Editor Jeffrey Sykes would answer questions when contacted Tuesday by the News & Record.
“We have five of the most educated and hardest working young reporters in the state,’’ Sykes said in a statement. “They work hard every day to bring compelling local news to the communities we serve.
“Despite limited resources and the disadvantages of our small staff, our writers manage to cover the local news more thoroughly than any other media source.”
Chris Gilfillan, 22, a sports reporter for the Hickory Daily Record, is among those whose photo appeared in the feature without his knowledge.
“That’s a little disturbing,” Gilfillan said. “These guys were two guys I really respected.’’
Jack Wiley Westall, 22, is quoted about his summer plans in one day’s feature. Westall, of Asheville, ran high school track against Corwin. But he said he never talked to him about his summer plans or gave permission for his photo to be used.
Burgin said she was disheartened about how the reporters’ actions reflected on the college paper, which instills reporters with a “sense of what is ethical.”
“For someone who is a product of The Daily Tar Heel to do that, he let me down a little bit, ” Burgin said.
Besides, Burgin said, had she been asked about her favorite band, it wouldn’t have been the Dave Matthews Band.
“I’m more of a solo artist-type girl,’’ she said.
Kinda sounds like Diana WHATSERFACE-GREIGO here in Sacramento.
"When I grow up I want to be just like Mr. Rather"
Why am I not suprised this story involves a self centered Yak like Dave Matthews?
I'm with Emma. Wouldn't pay a dime for it. Do I get headlines? Noooooooo!
Good to see UNCCH instills such solid values in its grads. < /sarcasm
*snicker*
Well that's about all a Carrboro Community College degree will give you. Solid values to twist the truth and find anyway to get by....;)
I resemble that remark. Where do you get off slandering community colleges?
Oh I wouldn't slander an actual community college. I respect what they do. However, Orange County Community Tech is a special situation as they seem to believe (at least the ones I've met) they're just a step above the rest of us North Carolinians....
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