Jonathan Yardley’s strange book review!

MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014

Kitty Genovese, still not remembered: Every Sunday, Jonathan Yardley writes a book review for the Washington Post Outlook section.

In our view, Yardley’s reviews help make the Sunday Post a better read than the bloated Sunday Times. That said, Yardley’s latest review struck us as notably strange.

Yardley reviewed a pair of books about the killing of Kitty Genovese, our country’s latest fiftieth anniversary event. In 1964, the killing of Genovese, a 28-year-old New York City woman, created a nationwide discussion which has never really ended.

At the start of his review, Yardley recalls the horrific basic events. He even recalls some events which didn’t happen, a basic fact he didn’t note until late in his review.

Over the last fifty years or so, our press corps has invented quite a few major events. This may be one of the first such inventions in this modern era:
YARDLEY (3/16/14): Half a century ago this month two weeks after the incident took place—the New York Times published on its front page, in a prominent position and under what was for the Times an unusually large four-column headline, a story that began: “For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens. . . . Not one person telephoned the police during the assault; one witness called after the woman was dead.”

The story was gritty and local, in both respects uncharacteristic of the Times in those days, and it made a huge splash, not merely among the newspaper’s readers but across the nation as other news organizations picked up on it. To this day I remember it vividly. I was working for the Times, though not as a local reporter, and living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, only a few miles from where Kitty Genovese was sexually assaulted and murdered. New Yorkers were not nearly as edgy about crime in 1964 as they were a decade later during the city’s steep if temporary decline, and the Genovese story made readers suddenly aware of the quotidian dangers people face in an urban environment.
Yardley heard about this heinous murder as a young New York Times reporter. We heard about it as a high school junior in California.

This heinous event was discussed all over the country. As Yardley explains, it changed the sociology books. (Yardley quotes a professor who describes the killing of Genovese as “the most-cited incident in social psychology literature until the September 11 attacks of 2001.”)

In many ways, this brutal murder changed the ways Americans thought of themselves. This was a very famous event, and it produced a very long public discussion.

Here’s the problem—in many ways, that splashy report in the New York Times was factually wrong. Somewhat oddly, Yardley waits until the end of his review to tell his readers that.

When he does, it seems to us that he’s weirdly imprecise.

In the passage which follows, Yardley finally notes that the New York Times got the story wrong in that splashy front-page report. But just how wrong did the New York Times get it?

Strangely, we never get told:
YARDLEY: [W]hat happened to Kitty Genovese in March 1964 affected the way many people think about crime and their responsibility to take action against it. The irony, though, is that the essential element in this notion of collective guilt—the charge that 38 witnesses failed to come to Genovese’s aid—is almost certainly untrue. The figure was tossed out by Michael Murphy, the New York City police commissioner, at lunch with A.M. Rosenthal, who in 1964 was city editor of the Times. “Brother, that Queens story is one for the books. Thirty-eight witnesses,” Murphy told Rosenthal, and added: “Thirty eight. I’ve been in this business a long time, but this beats everything.”

Rosenthal, a driven and ferociously ambitious journalist who eventually became executive editor of the Times, went back to the office and assigned the story to a reporter named Martin Gansberg. Apparently neither Rosenthal nor Gansberg ever tried to verify Murphy’s firm figure of 38 witnesses: “It came from the police; that was enough. Nobody ever identified the thirty-eight witnesses or counted the witnesses in the detectives’ reports.” The figure was accepted by other newspapers and magazines and cited as gospel by Malcolm Gladwell in his pop-sociological bestseller “The Tipping Point,” proof positive that journalists are as susceptible to the herd instinct as everyone else.

By 2004, when a conference on the crime was held, 40 years after it took place, Cook writes, “anyone willing to do a little Googling might have suspected that ‘thirty-eight witnesses’ carried a whiff of urban legend,” yet “of the ten most popular social-psychology textbooks of 2005, all carried accounts of the Genovese case, with all ten accounts maintaining that thirty-eight witnesses watched Kitty die without lifting a finger to help.”

So social psychologists as well as journalists are served a helping of humble pie in Cook’s book, though it’s unlikely that any of them will be eating it...
Even Gladwell got it wrong! Perhaps he needs more practice!

“The charge that 38 witnesses failed to come to Genovese’s aid is almost certainly untrue,” Yardley writes. We’re told that the number “carrie[s] a whiff of urban legend.”

But nowhere are we ever told how strong that whiff of legend might be. Was it really 35 silent witnesses? Perhaps as few as two dozen?

In fact, that Times report was heinously wrong, or at least that’s our understanding of the current state of the case. Scanning Cook’s book as best we can on-line, it looks like he says that maybe two witnesses really saw what was happening that night—and one of them did call police.

In many quarters, Genovese remains a sanctified figure, as well she should, because of the brutal nature of her death. But as he reviews two books about her killing, Yardley is weirdly imprecise about the part of the story which made this event so famous.

As major fans of Yardley’s work, we find this review rather puzzling. We offer a speculation:

As Yardley notes, the man who created this “urban legend” went on to become a kingpin of the New York Times, a god of the mainstream press corps. Today, his son is editorial page editor of the Times.

Does professional courtesy mean that we the rubes still can’t be told about how badly he misreported this event? Does it mean we can’t be told that the New York Times essentially invented the tale about the uncaring neighbors?

Eight years later, in 1972, a group of upper-end reporters may have invented another influential tale, the claim that Candidate Muskie wept. Is Yardley shying away from helping us see how far back this practice extends—this habit of dreaming up socially useful “parables” which help us believe the right things? (That’s a term from Cook’s book.)

In our view, Yardley is a terrific reviewer, and this is a strange review. A final point:

If we’re reading Cook’s book correctly, Genovese died in the arms of a loving neighbor and friend, a woman who risked her own life to go to the aid of her friend.

Therein lies the heart of this extremely famous story. Fifty years later, does the might of the Times, and professional courtesy, mean that we still can’t be told?

28 comments:

  1. This event is mentioned frequently in social psychology because it inspired the bystander studies of Latane & Darley. It is not mentioned in its own right, but in the context of that other work. If other events are not mentioned, it is largely because it is rare for a single historical event to inspire a line of research, especially one that becomes the foundation for continuing studies and thus many subsequent references. It also inspired Phil Ochs to write "A Small Circle of Friends."

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    Replies
    1. Well, if it's inspirational, then print it! Truth and facts are for suckers that are a day late and a dollar short.

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    2. Nobody said that. I just pointed out that this wasn't widely cited in social psych because of Genovese but because the research was important.

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  2. OMB (Many and Mysterious Are the Ways of the OYB)


    "But nowhere are we ever told how strong that whiff of legend might be. Was it really 35 silent witnesses? Perhaps as few as two dozen?"

    "In many ways, this brutal murder changed the ways Americans thought of themselves." BOB


    Nowhere are we told how "many ways" you Americans changed in thinking about yourselves. Not even one way is described. Nor its consequences.

    KZ

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    1. Actually, that's not true. Somerby talked about the citations of the report in social psychology -- that is at least one way America changed in thinking about ourselves. Somerby's point, which you are ignoring, is that so few people were witnesses (2) that merely saying it wasn't 38 is far from a sufficient correction of the record.

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    2. Another commenter proving Bob was right in the Dowd post...about commenters.

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  3. Fifty years later, does the might of the Times, and professional courtesy, mean that we still can’t be told?

    Some day Yardley may be up for an award with some high Timesie as a judge. Or, he might want to apply for a job at the Times some day. Also, if he doesn't give professional courtesy to the Times, they might not reciprocate. So, yes, it's prudent for him to pull his punches.

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    Replies
    1. Do you know how old he is?
      He can do as he wishes.

      Delete
  4. OMB (BOB Plays With His A.M. Rosenthal Doll)

    Essentially BOB is just like Rachel Maddow. As a teller of tall tales.

    A few weeks back we were told by BOB that Rachel Maddow invented words for the Chief of Police of Ft. Lee in response to a suggestion for traffic diversion made to him by Lt. Chip Michaels. It recalled heinous acts of the past he said. It was misleading.

    Here is what she said, as quoted by BOB:

    MADDOW (continuing directly): We don’t know if that was the police lieutenant’s intention. We know from the records released today that the Fort Lee police chief responded to the Port Authority policeman by essentially saying, “Are you crazy? That cannot happen, there’s already gridlock there.”

    BOB was right. Even covering herself with the weasel word "essentially" she embellished. Tonight he recalled the memory of that post for us by writing:


    "Does it mean we can’t be told that the New York Times essentially invented the tale about the uncaring neighbors?"


    Unfortunately for BOB, he did so immediately after quoting a book reviewer who wrote this:

    "The figure was tossed out by Michael Murphy, the New York City police commissioner, at lunch with A.M. Rosenthal, who in 1964 was city editor of the Times. “Brother, that Queens story is one for the books. Thirty-eight witnesses,” Murphy told Rosenthal, and added: “Thirty eight. I’ve been in this business a long time, but this beats everything.”

    They "essentially invented" a story told to them by the New York Police Commissioner?

    Well BOB, Al Gore "essentially" claimed he "invented" the Internet by your standards. Rachel Maddow cuts a jib Roger Ailes likes and you follow her example in your own work. And there are still, by your standards, a handful of "losers," rubes who still get played by you post after post.


    KZ

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    Replies
    1. Essentially, no.

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    2. deadrat seems to infer agreement.

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    3. Compare and Contrast Journalism to Blogging)

      Journalism: NPR Interviews Book Author

      Blogging: BOB spins and attacks reviewer of Book Author

      BOB sez:...."the New York Times was factually wrong. Somewhat oddly, Yardley waits until the end of his review to tell his readers that.

      When he does, it seems to us that he’s weirdly imprecise....

      In fact, that Times report was heinously wrong, or at least that’s our understanding of the current state of the case. Scanning Cook’s book as best we can on-line, it looks like he says that maybe two witnesses really saw what was happening that night—and one of them did call police."

      NPR Interviews the Author:

      "CORNISH: So weeks after her murder, the story is investigated by The New York Times, which initially reports this claim about the 38 witnesses to the death of Kitty Genovese. Break that down for us. Where did that number come from, and did it reflect what happened that night?

      COOK: I don't think it did. In a fascinating chain of events, the story went practically unreported for two weeks. And 10 days after the crime, the new city editor for The New York Times - Abraham Rosenthal - had lunch with the chief of police, who said, you know that story out in Queens? That's one for the books; 38 witnesses. And Rosenthal thought that was a striking thing that might well resonate with readers - 38 witnesses. That was the story. That came from the police, and it really is what made this story stick.

      Over the course of many months of research, I wound up finding a document that was a collection of the first interviews. Oddly enough, there were 49 witnesses. I was puzzled by that until I added up the entries themselves. Some of them were interviews with two or three people, lived in the same apartment. I believe that some harried civil servant gave that number to the police commissioner, who gave it to Rosenthal; and it entered the modern history of America after that."

      http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=284002294


      Did that story change how Americans thought of themselves in "many ways" too numerous for blogger BOB, the "test results" expert," to enumerate or describe?

      Or did blogger BOB simply spin another story to fit his meme of Guild protection working half a century later to cover a case of bad reporting?

      KZ

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    4. You are a worthless waste of time, KZ.

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    5. Anon. @ 12:25 you are a follower who cannot refute the fact this blogger lies to you regularly.

      What amuses us is he so blatantly does it while demonstrating the lie within the very same post and some of his readers not only let him get away with it, they praise him and take offense when it is pointed out.

      KZ

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    6. KZ no one takes offense that you "point out" Somerby has lied regarding the Genovese mis-coverage. Because you've done no such thing.

      The coverage *was* awful.

      The story is still not fully reported -- that is to say, it's still reported in a misleading way -- even today.

      And you, as everyday, are a gobshite.

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    7. Let's see. In this post BOB says, trying to read a book online, he counts "two" witnesses. The author of the book, in an interview a partial transcript of which is included in the
      comment to which you reply, says there were actually "49."

      And the person who points out BOB's glaring error is a "gobshite." BOB must be proud of his rube reders who come to his defense with such stirring fervor and stunning facts.

      KZ

      Delete
  5. For another view, which "essentially" says Somerby's version is nonsense red this piece by the other book covered in the Yardley review:

    http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/truth-kitty-genovese-article-1.1706942

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  6. This is the second time in less than a year Somerby has focused a post on the Genovese case, largely for the purpose of attacking the News York Times. His flight from the truth in service of his meme was evident then as well.

    In addition to repeatedly charging the Times with inventing the story, he said this:

    "Question: Did some “unidentified neighbor” really provide the iconic quote, "I didn't want to get involved?” Or did the Times invent that quote, which was so perfectly suited to drive the preferred story-line?

    Like you, we have no idea. The Times invented all kinds of facts. It may have invented that statement as well."

    Once again Somerby was not telling the truth.

    Here is what the Times actually wrote back in 1964.

    "It was 3:50 by the time the police received their first call, from a man who was a neighbor of Miss Genovese. In two minutes they were at the scene. The neighbor, a 70-year-old woman, and another woman were the only persons on the street. Nobody else came forward.

    The man explained that he had called the police after much deliberation. He had phoned a friend in Nassau County for advice and then he had crossed the roof of the building to the apartment of the elderly woman to get her to make the call.

    "I didn't want to get involved," he sheepishly told police."

    The Times took the quote from the police report. The Times got the witness figure from the Police Commissioner. The inventor is Bob Somerby.

    Oh, and just a note in passing. The previous post attacking the Times for its Genovese coverage was written to attack the Times for its Trayvon Martin coverage. It was another post in which Bob lied to claim someone else was lying

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  7. "repeatedly charging the Times with inventing the story"

    Do you not know how to comprehend what you read, or are you just an inveterate bullshitter?

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    Replies
    1. Right. Bob calls the Times coverage "heinously wrong" but that doesn't mean they invented this story out of whole cloth.

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  8. I can read. And Somerby is an inveterate liar. From the "Incomparable Archives"

    "CAN WE TALK: Kitty Genovese died for George Zimmerman’s sins!
    FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2013

    Part 5—Two famous tales of the Times: Way back in 1964, the New York Times made up a story. (1 in paragraph 1)
    -----
    In large part, that fame occurred because of the story the New York Times made up. (2)
    -----
    Why in the world did the New York Times invent this dramatic tale? (3)
    -----
    At any rate, the New York Times invented a story which captured a growing concern in a simplistic fashion. (4)
    -----
    Long ago, the New York Times invented a story—a story designed to suit the times. The great paper invented a boatload of facts, helping us imagine that no one wanted to get involved. (5)


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  9. "Fifty years later, does the might of the Times, and professional courtesy, mean that we still can’t be told?"

    Ummm, Bob? Here is a link to a story from none other than the New York Times, written 10 years ago, which pretty much debunks the newspaper's first reporting of the Genovese murder.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/08/nyregion/kitty-40-years-later.html?src=pm&pagewanted=1

    Bob might also be surprised to learn that when I was in J-school in the early '70s, the Genovese reporting was used as a classic example of not taking the word of high police officials and running with it.

    Now that we are in the Information Age, all one really needs to do is to Google "Kitty Genovese" to discover whether or not Somerby is lying through his teeth when he claims that a code of silence has fallen upon this story in order to protect the New York Times, something that surely the Times' rivals in the highly competitive newspaper market would certainly have as their No. 1 priority.

    The truth, sad to Somerby and the fans he lies to, is that few street crimes if any and its coverage other than the Genovese murder that has been more dissected, analyzed and debunked and all over the course of the past 50 years.

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    1. I wonder why Somerby chose not to mention this review of the two books.

      http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2014/03/10/140310crbo_books_lemann?currentPage=all

      I also wonder why, in the four times Somerby has covered the Genovese story, he has felt the need to personalize his journalism review by mentioning his age and location when the story first appeared in 1964.

      Finally, I wonder, if you were to reviews just the posts on Genovese and the links contained in those posts and comments, how many different counts of the number of witnesses you would get?

      The author of the original Times article maintained he derived the number 38 from actual interviews with neighbors and the police. The editor who assigned the reporter claimed the number 38 came from the police Commissioner in a lunch conversation with the editor.

      Somerby's most exaggerated version of the Times coverage came in an effort to attack the New York Times for its Trayvon Martin coverage. Regardless of the accuracy of Times reporting in either case, some facts remain quite clear.

      Kitty Genovese is dead. Winston Mosely killed her. He was convicted.

      Trayvon Martin is dead. George Zimmerman killed him. He was acquitted.

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    2. What lesson do you draw from the split decision on convictions for the two homicides? Or are these just clear facts?

      Delete
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