Very thoughtful post. I would say that both the salary and time pressure that he mentions can explain much of the problem. Clearly publishers/owners (because the buck must stop with tme) have decided that accuracy can be sacrificed. All the more reason for people to complain rather than simply accept it. Attacking journalists when they make mistakes, however, clearly is not appropriate or effective most of the time.
- Ed Parrot ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bloomquist, Bret" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Track & Field List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 12:25 PM Subject: RE: t-and-f: Viren article and journalism > As a journalist who makes many mistakes on an every-day basis, let me offer > my thoughts. > > Unless you're talking about the Dallas Morning News, sports departments are > tremendously understaffed and overworked. We don't have time to craft > stories and triple-check every fact we put in a story like we should. We > have to crank out story after story, meeting strenuous deadlines and > constantly dealing with idiots who call the newspaper to settle a drunken > bet on how many games the Dallas Cowboys won in 1968. > > I have a staff of five full-time employees trying to write, edit and produce > a six-page sports section seven days a week, 365 days a year. If you're > interested in this type of thing, you must have a college degree, be willing > to work 55 hour weeks, work on Christmas eve and Christmas day, and be > willing to start at $21,000 a year. On days when you are writing, you have > to produce two or three stories and interview around 10 people, plus deal > with moron parents who want to know why you personally hate their kid so > much that you refuse to write stories on them even though they work just as > hard as everyone else. (After doing a story on a young lady who went blind > in one eye before her junior year but became her team's best basketball > player, another parent told me their daughter was just as deserving of a > story because she had the flu two weeks ago.) > > When you are done, two people in charge of creating all six pages will try > to find the time to edit the stories, get them on the page, get them to fit, > put a headline on it, then do this with the other 20 stories in the section. > In the profession, we call the newspaper the "daily miracle." Unfortunately, > mistakes get made. Sometimes really, really bad ones. Two months ago I may > have made the worst one ever (right now picture Lee Nichols with tears of > laughter rolling down his face). > > So people call in to get corrections. These fall into two categories: > Helpful, nice people who want you to get it right; and little nitpickers > playing 'I found an error in the paper and gee you guys are idiots.' Picture > this scenario last year: A coach tells us his star runner, who runs the 400 > more than one second faster than anyone else in his classification in our > area, is undefeated. We check this as best we can and run it. The next day > some parent calls and says that no, their son beat that guy in a prelim, and > when the finals were cancelled because of lightening, they carried over the > prelim times and declared their son the winner, so we are stupid and have no > credibility and because of that everything they read they assume is wrong, > and that's why we're called the "Sub-Standard-Times" ha ha ha ha ha. > > In response, I offered to mail the guy 50 cents to cover the cost of his > paper. > > Yes, errors are unacceptable. Yes, they happen. No, we don't mean to. And to > all the people who tell me they'd be fired if they made these kinds of > errors, I wish they would see the situations we work under and what we're > paid to do it. > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Martin J. Dixon [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 1:38 PM > > To: James Tysell; Track & Field List > > Subject: Re: t-and-f: Viren article and journalism > > > > I was trying not to offend anyone. It was an observation but I stand by my > > statement and I have made it before and I am not just talking about track. > > Me thinks that it hit a little too close to home. I don't think it is > > arrogant to try to be accurate. Maybe it's just the nature of the beast > > producing 100 or so pages of newsprint on a daily basis but that article > > had > > several errors in it and the 5 hour one was glaring. An "endurance > > athlete" > > should have known better. If I made that many mistakes on a daily basis in > > my business, I would lose my client base so fast it would be shocking not > > to > > mention the constant dealings that I would be having with our insurance > > company. Maybe that is the standard. I don't know. Very small example. > > Yesterday morning, I am reading in our local paper about a girl from our > > area that represented Canada at the Commonwealth games in the triathlon. > > Our > > firm actually sponsors her. The paper said that she won the women's > > division > > of a 5km race out in the middle of nowhere in 16:50. I'm thinking to > > myself > > that the time seemed a little quick so I started poking around. I wanted > > to > > see the other times to see if there was some problem with the course. Here > > is what I found in about 2 minutes: > > http://pih.bc.ca/results/2002/songhees5k.html Look at the 7th place time. > > I > > pointed out the problem to the sports editor and they ran a correction. He > > thanked me for the information and made no editorial comments about > > "arrogance". If you make a mistake, you fix it and try to do better the > > next > > time. You don't deflect the blame. > > Regards, > > > > > > Martin > > > > > > Martin J. Dixon, B. Math. (Hons), C.A., Partner > > Millard, Rouse & Rosebrugh LLP > > Chartered Accountants > > P.O. Box 367 > > 96 Nelson Street > > Brantford, Ontario > > N3T 5N3 > > Direct Dial: (519) 759-3708 Ext. 231 > > Telephone: (519) 759-3511 > > Private Facsimile: (519) 759-8548 > > E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Web site: www.millards.com > > Practice Areas: www.millards.com/htm/profs/m_mjdixo.htm > > > > > > IMPORTANT NOTICE: > > This email may be confidential, may be legally privileged, and is for > > the intended recipient only. Access, disclosure, copying, distribution > > or reliance on any of it by anyone else is prohibited and may be a > > criminal offence. Please delete if obtained in error and email > > confirmation to the sender. > > > > > > > > James Tysell wrote: > > > > > T & F fans, > > > > > > I sent a couple of entries to the list about the Viren article to a > > > journalist friend of mine, here in N. Calif. > > > > > > Here is his reaction: > > > > > > "Yeah, if there's anything that makes me not want to cover track and > > > field, > > > it's the fact that there is so much data, coupled with some really > > > persnickety fans. Not to say all track fans are that way, but I've been > > > on > > > the t-and-f list before, and it gets pretty nauseating. > > > > > > I don't know the guy who wrote that story, but he's a Sacramento-based > > > freelancer who also seems to be an endurance athlete. He wrote some Tour > > > de > > > France stories over the summer and apparently talked to Viren when he > > > was > > > overseas. He's definitely not some "young kid." > > > > > > Anyone who says "anytime I read a newspaper article about which I am > > > intimately familiar, the errors are numerous" is just too arrogant for > > > his > > > own good." > > > > > > another perspective...... > > > > > > Jim Tysell > > > > > > > > >
