Good journalism, and bad

More gleanings from Regret the Error.

137th time's the charm
NYTimes: An article on Saturday about fund-raising efforts in New York by Senator Barack Obama misspelled the surname of one of President John F. Kennedy’s closest advisers, who introduced Mr. Obama at a fund-raiser. He is Theodore C. Sorensen, not Sorenson. (Go to Article) The error also appeared in an article in The Arts on Feb. 22 about books written by candidates, including “Profiles in Courage,” which then-Senator Kennedy wrote with guidance from Mr. Sorensen. (The Times has misspelled Mr. Sorensen’s surname more than 135 times in headlines and articles during the 50-plus years he has been a Democratic adviser and well-known author.)

So sure?
Sunday Times: An article about Lord Lambton ("Lord Louche, sex king of Chiantishire", News Review, January 7) falsely stated that his son Ned (now Lord Durham) and daughter Catherine held a party at Lord Lambton's villa, Cetinale, in 1997, which degenerated into such an orgy that Lord Lambton banned them from Cetinale for years. In fact, Lord Durham does not have a sister called Catherine (that is the name of his former wife), there has not been any orgiastic party of any kind and Lord Lambton did not ban him (or Catherine) from Cetinale at all. We apologise sincerely to Lord Durham for the hurt and embarrassment caused.

Slip
Financial Times: The White House described the Democratic Iraq withdrawal proposals as being "aimed at bringing comity to their internal politics", not comedy as stated in an article on March 9. The word comedy was taken from the original White House transcript which was corrected after we had gone to press.

But what about this Jim guy?
The Australian: On December 30, 2006, The Weekend Australian published an article titled, 'Big Jim faces 10 years jail'. The Weekend Australian acknowledges that the quotes attributed to Mr Nicholson were in fact given to The Weekend Australian by a Mr Nicoll. The Weekend Australian apologises unreservedly for any embarrassment or hurt suffered by Mr Nicholson as a result of the error.

Glad someone's reading the paper
NYTimes: A letter in most editions yesterday, by Syed Waris Shere, writing from Brooklyn, discussed Vice President Dick Cheney and the verdict in the trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr.

After the newspaper started printing, the letter was posted on our Web site, where an alert reader, to whom we are extremely grateful, noticed that almost all of the letter had been copied from an article about Mr. Cheney and the trial from the previous day’s newspaper. The letter included parts of sentences written by a Times reporter and sentences taken from quotations in the article.

Mr. Shere said by telephone yesterday that he had intended to attribute all the copied passages in the letter, and regrets not having done so.
As soon as we learned of the problem, we removed the letter from our Web site, and from remaining copies of the paper that had not yet been printed.

I guess they watch CBC up there
Toronto Star: Wednesday's story about Canada's Walk of Fame inductees incorrectly referred to "the late Morley Safer." Safer is alive and continues to file stories as a 60 Minutes correspondent. The Star regrets the error.

Thanks for bringing it up again
Times-Picayune: Woman booked with DWI: The police report in some Tuesday editions incorrectly stated that Barbara Schields of 6024 Jean St. in Metairie was booked Feb. 27 with loitering for prostitution. Actually, she was booked with third-offense DWI.

But they wore bags over their heads
ESPN Radio: In a March 5 story on ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning, it was reported that the Detroit Lions did not have a representative at Sunday's Brady Quinn workout. According to the Lions' public relations staff, the team had four coaches, two scouts and one front office executive at the workout. Lions President Matt Millen was not there, but he could attend a later Quinn workout.

No longer a bastard
A Canadian Press story titled "'Lost Canadians' fight back" about the children of Canadian soldiers and diplomats born overseas described Sheila Walshe as being born "out of wedlock." Walshe's parents were, in fact, married when she was born.

Always wait a day before trying our recipes
Guardian: We should clarify that the stir-fried morning glory recipe featured in Observer Food Monthly last week uses an edible morning glory Ipomoea aquatica, found in south east Asia and also known as water spinach. This should not to be confused with the UK Ipomoea, also known as morning glory, which is poisonous.

What else is he doing anonymously?
NYTimes: An article yesterday about an interview Vice President Dick Cheney gave aboard his military transport on Tuesday, for which he asked to be identified only as “a senior administration official” but then spoke in the first person about his discussions with the Pakistani and Afghan presidents, truncated the final passage in some copies. It should have read: “On Iran, the administration’s highest-ranking and best-known hawk challenged a questioner who suggested that oil prices might drop 10 or 15 percent if the United States took off the table the option of a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. ‘I don’t buy it,’ the senior administration official said, before retreating to his cabin.”

Wikipedia vs. Journalism, Round 3,892
New Yorker: The July 31, 2006, piece on Wikipedia, “Know It All,” by Stacy Schiff, contained an interview with a Wikipedia site administrator and contributor called Essjay, whose responsibilities included handling disagreements about the accuracy of the site’s articles and taking action against users who violate site policy. He was described in the piece as “a tenured professor of religion at a private university” with “a Ph.D. in theology and a degree in canon law.”

Essjay was recommended to Ms. Schiff as a source by a member of Wikipedia’s management team because of his respected position within the Wikipedia community. He was willing to describe his work as a Wikipedia administrator but would not identify himself other than by confirming the biographical details that appeared on his user page. At the time of publication, neither we nor Wikipedia knew Essjay’s real name. Essjay’s entire Wikipedia life was conducted with only a user name; anonymity is common for Wikipedia admin-istrators and contributors, and he says that he feared personal retribution from those he had ruled against online. Essjay now says that his real name is Ryan Jordan, that he is twenty-four and holds no advanced degrees, and that he has never taught. He was recently hired by Wikia—a for-profit company affiliated with Wikipedia—as a “community manager”; he continues to hold his Wikipedia positions. He did not answer a message we sent to him; Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikia and of Wikipedia, said of Essjay’s invented persona, “I regard it as a pseudonym and I don’t really have a problem with it.”

Observant journalists
Greeley newspaper acknowledges ethical lapses:
The Greeley Tribune has agreed to end a years-old practice of copying stories from competing newspapers and falsely labeling them as Associated Press stories, the newspaper’s publisher said today.

“That’s clearly a very bad journalism practice,” said Steve Weaver, the Tribune’s publisher.

Lehman Communications Publisher Ed Lehman said editors at the Loveland Reporter-Herald, which is owned by his company, spotted the practice and asked the Tribune last week to stop copying stories from the Reporter-Herald’s Web site.

“They apologized,” Lehman said. “We’ve asked them to stop.”

Rancid honey
Citigroup and CNBC Cozy Up, David Carr in the Times: Buy, sell, trade — journalism is one more form of commerce. And when the favor bank goes airborne, it captures the imagination in a new way. Like $6,000 shower curtains and the nickname Kenny Boy, the corporate jet lives large in the public imagination.

Which brings us to the question: why was Maria Bartiromo, the popular anchor on the business news channel CNBC, making command appearances at the request of Citigroup — and many other companies — that sit dead center in Ms. Bartiromo’s beat as the daily host of “Closing Bell With Maria Bartiromo” and the host of “The Wall Street Journal Report With Maria Bartiromo,” a nationally syndicated television show?

On the surface, these kinds of appearances at corporate events — sponsored by the companies she covers — would be considered unsightly, if not unethical, by many in her chosen field. But perhaps nobody would have noticed if a corporate jet wasn’t involved.

The question arose last week when Todd S. Thomson, chief of Citigroup’s wealth management unit, lost his job after it was revealed that in addition to the usual profligate expenses, he spent way too much time and money scrambling the jets for Ms. Bartiromo.

She had attended a number of client functions at Mr. Thomson’s request — she was trotted out like Bill Murray at a celebrity golf tournament — most notably during a trip last year in which other Citigroup executives were bumped from a plane bound home from the Far East while Mr. Thomson and Ms. Bartiromo flew back together. ...

When the Thomson-Bartiromo story broke, officials at CNBC issued a reflexive defense of its biggest star, saying, “Maria Bartiromo is one of the most prolific and well-respected financial journalists in the industry, who works tirelessly around the world in the service of business journalism.”

Yesterday the company added a further statement: “Maria Bartiromo’s journalistic integrity was never compromised nor would she or CNBC allow it to be. Any implication to the contrary is inaccurate.”

Hyperbole aside, the statement is true as far as it goes. But it ignores the reality that there is an implicit contract at play here. By making huge advertising buys on CNBC, Citigroup obtained access to its biggest star. Clearly, an exchange of brands was under way.

CNBC has positioned itself as an adjunct to business, the glowing friend in the corner with the sound off and a ticker at the bottom. In that respect, CNBC has roughly the same relationship to Wall Street that “Entertainment Tonight” has to Hollywood: boosterish, gossipy and more than a little starry-eyed.

It is companion media rather than the source of oversight or rigorous coverage that you might expect from, say, The Wall Street Journal. By demonstrating that it was able to deliver Ms. Bartiromo for important functions, Citigroup was able to use her fame as an adjunct to its marketing. It didn’t own her so much as rent her through its ongoing advertising on CNBC.

If there’s a price to be paid, the bill will be sent to Ms. Bartiromo’s reputation. After all, what are all those day traders going to think the next time she opens her show with a look at Citigroup? It may be hard to keep their minds on their “trade” buttons.