Throne returned to the subject yesterday, in a column about how the paper got tricked into publishing one of the "Ellie Light" pro-President Obama letters -- despite extra steps taken by the small paper to safeguard its letters page. Those steps included conducting a Google search on the letter's contents to see if it had already appeared elsewhere."Yes, the irony of having a letter to the editor situation blow up in your face just days after saying the newspaper is following new procedures isn’t lost on me," he writes. "It’s embarrassing and regrettable. But if we hadn’t followed those procedures, I’d feel a lot worse. In this case we did follow them and were lied to about the local nature of the opinion and the address used. In short, we were duped."
The Gazette isn't alone, of course -- despite taking the extraordinary and laudable steps Throne details in his column. Indeed, at least 18 Gannett papers and websites published one of the Light letters, among more than 70 other media outlets across the country.
Throne also reveals that the Obama letter wasn't Light's first attempt: "On Jan. 13," he says, "we also received a second letter from 'Ellie Light' regarding generosity to the people of Haiti and how to make sure your donation gets to those who really need it."
I wonder how many of those got published across the nation?
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[Image: detail of the Gazette's homepage]
faked/astroturf letters to the editor are so much easier with today's technology, and nothing replaces human vigilance. yet another proof that copy editors truly can't be replaced with spellchecker.
ReplyDeletemany years before my paper was bought by gannett, one of my frequent copy desk duties was to proofread the ed and op-ed pages. my all-time best catch was of a letter signed "chuck u. farley" and purporting to be from a small nearby city. there was no chuck or charles farley in the phone book, and how common is the initial "u" anyway? so it was my slightly embarrassing job to explain to the editorial page editor (a true gentleman who was, unfortunately, too naive for his job) that he'd been punked.
he didn't get it at first, so i had to explain . . . without actually using the f-word. that wouldn't have bothered me a bit, but hearing it from a "young lady" would have freaked him out!
It really gets tricky with man/woman-on-the-street interviews. Asking opinions of people chosen randomly at a mall or gas station is a staple of journalism.
ReplyDeleteBut USA Today got snookered once by just one of those people, at a Las Vegas casino, I believe. Do newspapers or TV stations ever ask for photo IDs from these people, to prove they're who they say they are? That's probably rare.
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ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeletePerson-on-the-street interviews are bogus anyway. Most of the time they're a waste, ordered up to get more 'real people' into a story, regardless of what they have to say. My favorites are when you have to explain an issue to someone and ask them for reaction in the next breath. Talk about manipulating the news!
I can just imagine peoples' reaction if we were required to ask to see their drivers' licenses. "You interrupted me while I was shopping, asked me a bunch of stupid questions, and want to see my ID? Go to hell, you dumb kid. It's not like I WANT to be in the paper."