[Grovenet] Irv update-2nd attempt

Thu May 8 19:24:14 PDT 2008

Back in 1966, the News Times photog posed a friend and me for a picture. We
were supposed to be sledding. In truth, we were at Ash and 17th sitting
still. The caption mentioned we were having fun sledding. Fact or fiction or
something in between?
I seem to remember a reporter for the NY Times getting in much trouble for
making things up. Also a Reuters photog in the middle east was dropping a
teddy bear in several shots as stuff he was making up.
So it does happen. Documenting an event can sometimes lead the witness to
alter the event. With the realization of that power, the witness sometimes
alters with intent.
Some theories attribute the upper left to be the prime spot on the paper. So
by putting a picture there, it gains dominance. With that understanding, a
photog could take pix of Hil and Barry for the front page. By shooting Hil
facing left and Barry facing right, the photog knows that Barry would get
the left position. Thus the photog could push the person of his choice to
the prime spot.
Similarly, in writing, the items the writer or editor want ignored can be
put at the end of the article.
In Irv's case, Bob mentioned that he knows of only one other issue to color
his past. I didn't read the article so I don't know if the paper found more
items or enhanced what was there. The headline implied to me that there
would be several bad spots in the guy's career.
When something you know about is reported inaccurate, it leads one to wonder
about other reporting as well.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com]On
> Behalf Of John Schrag
> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 2:27 PM
> To: 'Forest Grove local interests list'
> Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Irv update-2nd attempt
>
>
> Steve
>
> No spin intended. Just trying to offer some insight from the other side of
> the byline. And I agree, there's a big difference between bad
> reporting and
> typos and I've committed both.
>
> But I still say it's unusual for journalists to "make stuff up."
>
> John
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
> Behalf Of Steven
> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 8:15 AM
> To: Forest Grove local interests list
> Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Irv update-2nd attempt
>
> Please don't try to spin.
> The mud puddle story was pure fabrication.
> Horrible miss statements make up much of the news and are not typos.
> You could have said that you try to be accurate. But it seems to say that
> all problems with bad reporting is just typos.
> I'd consider Kate's story as bad reporting. The reporter could
> have actually
> talked to Kate. Even asked, "would you say that..." and thus get something
> quotable. But to make it up makes one wonder about the next story as well.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com]On
> > Behalf Of John Schrag
> > Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 7:39 AM
> > To: 'Forest Grove local interests list'
> > Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Irv update-2nd attempt
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yikes! Those stories sound all too familiar. Although I've never kneeled
> > in
> > a mud puddle, in the rush to a deadline, I, too, have attributed a quote
> > to
> > the wrong person.
> >
> > We, in the media, make mistakes all the time (in this week's News-Times,
> > we
> > misspelled the name of one my son's classmates, failed to
> credit a sports
> > photo and referred readers to the wrong page on one story) and
> it will get
> > only get worse as newsrooms cut their staffs and websites
> create even more
> > pressure to "be there first" (which often brings out the worst).
> >
> > But, there's a big difference between making mistakes and "making things
> > up." Our profession pretty much has a zero tolerance policy on the lying
> > thing.
> >
> > None of us like errors in our work, but consider that even the
> little old
> > News-Times has thousands of facts in it each week, from the name of the
> > kids
> > in the photos and the time that Kiss Me Kate starts on Friday
> night to the
> > Vikings' standing in the playoff hunt and the year Irv Nikolai retired.
> >
> > Our newsroom staff (of four) gets more than 99 percent of those facts
> > right
> > each week, as do journalists at most papers. That doesn't excuse the
> > mistakes we make, but may put them in context.
> >
> > John
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
> > Behalf Of Katie Allnutt
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 10:28 PM
> > To: Forest Grove local interests list
> > Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Irv update-2nd attempt
> >
> > I was quoted in the newspaper once and they reporter had never even
> > talked to me. It was pretty funny to see what you said in the paper
> > when you didn't get the interview in the first place. (At least I
> > 'said' some thing nice....)
> > Turns out it was an innocent mistake or case of reporter not being
> > able to write in a straight line and didn't detract from the overall
> > point of the article. It was an article about a school fundraiser and
> > I could have said those words if I had been asked.
> >
> > But Steven makes a good point. If the stuff you know about is wrong,
> > it does make one wonder about the stuff you don't know about.  The
> > reporter on knees in the 3 inch flood is a good example of going way
> > over board.
> >
> > Katie
> >
> > On May 7, 2008, at 8:28 PM, Steven wrote:
> >
> > > Gosh, I said make up. I meant to say Get Wrong.
> > > But there was the case of the reporter on their knees in a mud
> > > puddle trying
> > > to say how bad the flooding was. One of the Portland stations.
> > > Medical issues I've had. Stories tend to gloss over the important
> > > stuff.
> > > Lump other stuff together until it implies something else all
> > > together.
> > > Quotes wrong. Wrong conclusions from data. That kind of stuff.
> > >
> > >> -----Original Message-----
> > >> From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-
> > >> bounces at rdrop.com]On
> > >> Behalf Of John Schrag
> > >> Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 8:19 PM
> > >> To: 'Forest Grove local interests list'
> > >> Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Irv update-2nd attempt
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Steve:
> > >>
> > >> I'd be interested in examples of where you know that the media has
> > >> "made
> > >> stuff up."  Not saying it doesn't happen; just wanting some specifics
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> John Schrag
> > >>
> > >> -----Original Message-----
> > >> From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-
> > >> bounces at rdrop.com] On
> > >> Behalf Of Steven
> > >> Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 11:56 AM
> > >> To: Forest Grove local interests list
> > >> Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Irv update-2nd attempt
> > >>
> > >> Just one of those things about the media. Any time it is a topic
> > >> you know,
> > >> you realize how little the press knows and how much they make up.
> > >> Makes you
> > >> wonder about the rest of it.
> > >>   -----Original Message-----
> > >>   From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-
> > >> bounces at rdrop.com]On
> > >> Behalf Of Bob Browning
> > >>   Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 12:12 PM
> > >>   To: Forest Grove local interests list
> > >>   Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Irv update-2nd attempt
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>   An odd headline when the only "trouble" in his past seems to be
> > >> that the
> > >> unions don't like him because he has a strong personality.
> > >>
> > >>   And, he would have been on the team, even if for a short time. A
> > >> bit of
> > >> puffery perhaps, but not as bad as stealing a loaf of bread, even
> > >> if your
> > >> kids are starving.
> > >>
> > >>    Looks to me like Channel 6 was having a slow news day!!
> > >>
> > >>   bob
> > >>
> > >>   Steve Jerrett wrote:
> > >>
> > >> http://www.koin.com/content/news/topstories/story.aspx?content_id=
> > > c5f8f1b3-b
> > > 8fb-43b6-a936-3ca347936161
> > >
> > >
> > >   Accused Schools Chief's Troubled Past
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > GroveNet mailing list
> > > GroveNet at rdrop.com
> > > http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > GroveNet mailing list
> > > GroveNet at rdrop.com
> > > http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > GroveNet mailing list
> > > GroveNet at rdrop.com
> > > http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > GroveNet mailing list
> > GroveNet at rdrop.com
> > http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > GroveNet mailing list
> > GroveNet at rdrop.com
> > http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> GroveNet mailing list
> GroveNet at rdrop.com
> http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> GroveNet mailing list
> GroveNet at rdrop.com
> http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet
>