Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Reno | Devastating obit disappears from the Web

"This brutal obituary is a reminder to be good to your children," warns Gawker, and the editors aren't kidding.

Unfortunately, it appears the Reno Gazette-Journal has removed the obit in question from its website. But Gawker has preserved the full text, including this opening line:

"Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick born Jan 4, 1935 and died alone on Aug. 30, 2013. She is survived by her 6 of 8 children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way possible."

Ouch.

14 comments:

  1. When Jim dies, the compilation of all the bullshit comments allowing anonymous cowards to rip on named people will be sent to his friends and relatives.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And yet, YOU posted as anonymous also!

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    2. Brilliant, 3:27. I should have expected that response. Notice I didn't rip on anyone, though. Note the difference.

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  2. Change "children" to "employees" and that could be Gracia's or Bob Dickeys obit!

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    Replies
    1. Ain't that the God's honest truth!!!! How they sleep at night, smile or be happy in general is truly a testament to greed and evil.

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  3. John Maher needs to go. He has proven his incompetence since he arrived in Reno.

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    Replies
    1. FYI: Maher has been the paper's publisher since March 2011.

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    2. Why would an obit be the publisher's fault? Anyhow, the reaction on Gawker was pretty supportive of the family, so I don't think readers really had a problem with it. And since the family paid to run it, who cares? Since newspapers have decided to treat obits as paid ads, they don't really get the privilege of editing them.

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    3. Every single obit, regardless of where it comes from, should be reviewed and vetted by staff. That's still the policy at many papers, but certainly not all. ANY ad can be rejected for publication for any reason - that's why the publisher is called out (who, btw makes serious big bucks for taking the heat). It's his/her responsibility to be sure his staff is properly trained to prevent things like this from happening. No one would argue that the couple hundred bucks this likely generated for the paper was worth the embarassment that camem with it.

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    4. Why do we have to treat the dead as if they were angelic. What about complete POS's die. I think they should have left it up.

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  4. Contrary to popular belief, Nevada and nine other states have laws against libeling the dead, according to Wikipedia.

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  5. Wave 2, wave your goodbye the way you want......

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  6. That's what happens when you send all obits to a hub. I'm sure we will see more and more mistakes. Gannett is nuts. They have no idea what they are doing.

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  7. Reno interviewed one of her daughters and linked to text of the obit.

    http://www.rgj.com/article/20130911/NEWS/309110104/

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Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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