TWO WOMEN: And their respective plights!

MONDAY, MAY 19, 2014

Part 1—In which the scene is set: Two women, and their respective plights, have been described in the press in recent weeks.

One of the women is quite well off; she holds extremely high professional status. When she isn’t at her Connecticut country home, she lives in Tribeca.

Her plight: She had an extremely good job, but her boss decided to replace her. She will soon have another extremely good job with some other employer.

The other woman is much younger. She’s senior class president at her public high school, where she was also homecoming queen and a three-time individual state champion in track. She lives with her mother, an auto worker, in the least affluent part of Tuscaloosa, a city in Alabama.

Her plight: Due to low scores on the ACT, she may not be able to get into a four-year college next year.

One woman was replaced in a job which is said to have paid her $525,000 per year as part of her compensation package. The other woman, who attends a “low-performing” high school, may not be able to attend college, which she very much wants to do.

If you understand the press corps, you will know which woman’s plight has been widely discussed. You may also understand the way her plight has been discussed.

For starters, we’d say that her plight has been discussed in the standard incompetent manner. Consider the work of Ken Auletta, an extremely high status journalist who quickly emerged as the Boswell, perhaps even the Ovid, of the older woman’s plight.

Last Friday afternoon, we discussed one fuzzy bit of writing by this high-ranking journalist. Defining the story at The New Yorker, he put the word “pushy” inside quotes without explaining if anyone had actually attributed the magic word to the older woman.

As an act of journalism, this was extremely bad work. As an act of novel construction, this piece of work was sublime.

Serving an unnamed master, Auletta put the word “pushy” in play. Beyond that, consider this deathless passage, which basically established the terms in which the older woman’s plight has been discussed:
AULETTA (5/15/14): Let’s look at some numbers I’ve been given: As executive editor, Abramson’s starting salary in 2011 was $475,000, compared to Keller’s salary that year, $559,000. Her salary was raised to $503,000, and—only after she protested—was raised again to $525,000. She learned that her salary as managing editor, $398,000, was less than that of the male managing editor for news operations, John Geddes. She also learned that her salary as Washington bureau chief, from 2000 to 2003, was a hundred thousand dollars less than that of her successor in that position, Phil Taubman.** (Murphy would say only that Abramson’s compensation was “broadly comparable” to that of Taubman and Geddes.)

Murphy cautioned that one shouldn’t look at salary but, rather, at total compensation, which includes, she said, any bonuses, stock grants, and other long-term incentives. This distinction appears to be the basis of Sulzberger’s comment that Abramson was not earning “significantly less.” But it is hard to know how to parse this without more numbers from the Times. For instance, did Abramson’s compensation pass Keller’s because the Times’ stock price rose? Because her bonuses came in up years and his in down years? Because she received a lump-sum long-term payment and he didn’t?

And, if she was wrong, why would Mark Thompson agree, after her protest, to sweeten her compensation from $503,000 to $525,000? (Murphy said, on behalf of Thompson, that Abramson “also raised other issues about her compensation and the adequacy of her pension arrangements, which had nothing to do with the issue of comparability. It was to address these other issues that we suggested an increase in her compensation.”)
That is stunningly awful journalism, to the extent that it can be described as “journalism” at all. And yet, this passage, by a high-status national journalist, has set the terms for the discussion of the older woman’s plight.

Tomorrow, we’ll “parse” that passage, showing what makes it so terrible as an act of journalism. And all week long, we’ll look at the way the American press corps discussed these two women’s plights.

The plight of the older woman will be discussed for weeks. The plight of the younger woman has been completely ignored by the rest of the press, but it was discussed in detail in a 10,000-word ProPublica piece which ran in The Atlantic.

All week long, we’ll look at the way these plights have been discussed. We’ll focus on the press corps’ technical incompetence, and on its love for high-interest novels, preferably novels which turn on issues of race, gender or sex.

Tomorrow: What makes that passage so awful?

We must quickly mention this: What’s wrong with that passage by Auletta, the highly presentable major domo from The New Yorker?

Without delay, we must mention one point from the first paragraph we posted. We’ll change our point of emphasis here:
AULETTA: Let’s look at some numbers I’ve been given: As executive editor, Abramson’s starting salary in 2011 was $475,000, compared to Keller’s salary that year, $559,000. Her salary was raised to $503,000, and—only after she protested—was raised again to $525,000. She learned that her salary as managing editor, $398,000, was less than that of the male managing editor for news operations, John Geddes. She also learned that her salary as Washington bureau chief, from 2000 to 2003, was a hundred thousand dollars less than that of her successor in that position, Phil Taubman.** (Murphy would say only that Abramson’s compensation was “broadly comparable” to that of Taubman and Geddes.)
Oof! That double asterisk leads us to this acknowledgment at the end of Auletta’s piece:

**In an earlier version, Phil Taubman was referred to as Jill Abramson’s predecessor.

Oof! According to Auletta, Abramson’s successor as Washington bureau chief has been paid a higher salary than she was.

For reasons we’ll discuss tomorrow, it isn’t clear that Auletta knows if that is true. But in his original post, Auletta made a groaning factual error. He reported that Abramson’s predecessor in the post was paid that higher salary.

Everybody makes mistakes; that mistake was a beaut. And uh-oh! Flipping around the web yesterday, we saw Auletta’s original, erroneous copy still on display at several prominent sites.

(Example: As of this morning's posting, the erroneous copy is still on display at Ezra Klein’s brainy new site.)

Everybody makes mistakes. In this instance, Auletta committed a genuine groaner.

That said, the way these plights have been discussed takes us beyond the realm of “mistake.” It takes us the realm of “novel,” the place where our national discourse will routinely be found.

59 comments:

  1. If only they had fired Maureen Dowd. I wonder how much she makes for being a snarky columnist?

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    1. Probably the same amount as she would make for being an informative or thought-provoking columnist. That is the sad part.

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    2. How To Stop A Divorce And Save Your Marriage?(Dr Brave).


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      Delete
  2. Just FYI: Ms. Dent has been accepted at a 4-year college. See http://tuscpreps.com/news/article/54456/central-track-champ-signs-with-miles/

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    1. Oof!

      "Her plight: Due to low scores on the ACT, she may not be able to get into a four-year college next year."

      For reasons we'll discuss tomorrow or momentarily, BOB made another groaning factual error that has been compounded repeatedly.

      KZ

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    2. KZ, this isn't a factual error.

      A factual error would be if Somerby had said: "Due to low scores on the ACT, she will never be able to get into a four-year college."

      Somerby used the words "may not" which describe a probability. Further, he was describing the content of another person's article -- he does not know Ms Dent and never claimed to know her and thus is passing along what was said by another person. He did do that accurately.

      Your vendetta against Somerby is tiresome. When facts contradict a prediction about the future, it is neither embarrassing nor a mistake. No one can know the future, so we accept that uncertainty and do not blame anyone who has made a prediction that didn't come true.

      I think Somerby is probably very happy Ms. Dent is going to be able to go to college. I hope her academic skills are up to the challenge but I have no doubt she will work hard to succeed. The future may prove me wrong, however.

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    3. Gack! We're sorry, but no.

      KZ

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    4. "No one can know the future, so we accept that uncertainty and do not blame anyone who has made a prediction that didn't come true."

      Anonymous 11:19

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    5. "Prediction is one of the silliest things our children of the corn do."

      Somerby 11/7/12

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    6. KZ not that smart.

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    7. Leads with his ego

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    8. I guess 1:59 cannot answer.

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    9. You cannot lead your life without making a series of predictions. It all starts with "The sun will come up."

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    10. I was at least eight years old before leading my life with solar predictions. Of course I speculated about the moon phases for two of those early years.

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  3. Oof!MB (Novelizing with BOB)

    "Oof! According to (Auletta), BOB (Abramson’s successor as Washington bureau chief has been paid a higher salary than she was.) Governor Ultrasound had not been charged with anything.

    For reasons we’ll discuss tomorrow, it isn’t clear that (Auletta knows if that is true.) BOB knew that was true. But in his original post, (Auletta) BOB made a groaning factual error. He reported that (Abramson’s predecessor in the post was paid that higher salary.) the Governor had not been indicted.

    Everybody makes mistakes; that mistake was a beaut. And uh-oh! Flipping around the web (yesterday) RIGHT NOW, we saw (Auletta’s) BOB's original, erroneous copy still on display at (several prominent sites) his own site with no correction ever made.

    Everybody makes mistakes. In this instance, Auletta and BOB committed a genuine groaner."

    http://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/2014/01/governor-ultrasound-still-hasnt-been.html

    KZ

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    1. The huge fuss over Abramson's firing illustrates how our opinion leaders decide what is or isn't newsworthy. A few years ago, Amanda Bennett, whom I know slightly, was fired as chief editor or the Philadelphia Inquirer. Amanda had shown the most courage of any newspaper editor in the country by publishing actual pictures of the controversial cartoons mocking Mohammed. The Philadelphia Inquirer was the only major newspaper in the US to do so.

      Now, I have no reason to believe that Amanda was fired because she published those cartoons. However, the fact that she did so and the fact that she's a woman could have been used to make this into a national story. But, it wasn't. It was treated, appropriately, like just another chief executive firing. IMHO Abramson's firing also deserved to be reported like just another chief executive firing, but it was blown up, presumably via specific actioins by people with the desire and means to make this into a major story.

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    2. Why is it appropriate treatment to ignore what may have been a political firing in your friend's case?

      Firings are news when they result from circumstances affecting the business in question. Stockholders (or prospective stockholders) want to know, for example, when GM executives screw up and get fired.

      If Abramson was fired because she complained about her salary, that is major news and it should be reported. Auletta hinted at why she was fired but didn't explain anything. That is the problem, in my opinion, not that this was made into a story when it shouldn't have been. Newspapers are powerful entities so that makes their editors public figures that influence society. We should care about why they are changed -- were the powers that be upset with the way she was serving her plutocratic masters? That is a BIG story.

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    3. KZ, I would suggest that in order for you to reduce the obnoxiousness element in your relentless, and puzzlingly meaningless, crusade to demonstrate TDH's alleged hypocrisy and wrongheadedness, that you abandon the mimicry of TDH's style. It's obnoxiously juvenile. You don't need it to make whatever point it is you are trying to make.

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    4. Without it, there's nothing left.

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    5. Sorry you are incapable of figuring out the point. Since you respond to a comment in which we actually used BOB's own words we are sure the stylistic contribution to your comprehension difficulties is one you have brought up with him as well.

      KZ

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    6. KZ, we cannot know what happened to you over the weekend but you are clearly on the warpath this morning. Three attacks within a very short time of Somerby's first post appearing here. We all sympathize with whatever is going on in your life, but please don't take it out on us here by cluttering up the comments with your gibberish.

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    7. Which piece of gibberish can you factually discount?

      KZ

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    8. I'll go you one better, 3:32. Try the two later posts of Bob's today. They should be fairly clutter free for you.
      Enjoy a KZ free discussion.

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    9. Reading nothing at all is far better than reading whatever you write.

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    10. AnonymousMay 19, 2014 at 11:25 AM -- Note that if some reporter had praised Bennett for showing actual pictures of the Mohammed cartoons, that reporter would have been implicitly criticizing his own newspaper or TV station for not showing those pictures.

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    11. KZ, it's not that I'm unable to understand your usually dumb points, it's that the snarky mimicking of TDH's style is grating, unoriginal, overused, and not necessary to point out real or imagined errors on TDH's part.

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    12. That said, AC/MA, that said. Alas, your real or imagined
      ability to understand our points are masked by your own poor style and your failure to reference any such points in your repetitive complaints.

      That said, we cannot believe you wrote that Bob's style was "obnoxiously juvenile." We wouldn't go that far.

      KZ

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  4. OMB (Why not Visit Tuscaloosa?)

    "Her plight: Due to low scores on the ACT, she may not be able to get into a four-year college next year." BOB today, May 19, 2014

    We must quickly mention this: What’s wrong with that passage by (Auletta) BOB, the highly presentable major domo from The (New Yorker) Daily Howler?

    Without delay, we must mention one point from the first paragraph we posted. We’ll change our point of emphasis here:

    "Central track champ signs with Miles

    Sun. April 27, 2014 at 12:00 a.m. | By Andrew Carroll

    D’Leisha Dent, a three-sport athlete at Central High School, might find her work load a little lighter when she gets to college.

    Dent signed Thursday to compete in volleyball and track at Miles College in Fairfield."

    Now, what was the date when BOB began his multi-part series on D'Leisha Dent? Was it May 5, 2014. We think it was.

    May 5 "We’ll bet the farm on our basic premise; D’Leisha Dent is a superb young person. It’s astonishing, and a national problem, that she may not move on to college, even with her athletic success."

    May 6 "As she continues, Hannah-Jones describes the one downside to this superb young person—in at least four tries, she hasn’t scored well enough on the ACT to qualify for attention from a four-year college."

    May 7 "It also seems that she may not be able to get into a four-year college. For details, see yesterday’s report.

    D’Leisha Dent, a superlative kid, can’t score high enough on the ACT to merit a nibble from four-year schools."

    May 8 "On that basis, it looks like Dent won’t be able to attend a four-year college, despite the fact that she’s president of her senior class and a state champion athlete.

    An honors student who excels in school can’t get into college! In our view, Hannah-Jones finesses this puzzle all through her 9900-word report."

    May 9 "Why is it that D’Leisha Dent, who seems to be one of Central’s best students, can’t get accepted to college?"


    BOB described the last quoted question as a "punishing" question. We just don't know. That said, it is a revealing one.

    KZ



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    1. Go away. Or go back on your meds. Do something to calm yourself down.

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    2. Alas! If you ingore the facts, that doesn't mean they will go away.

      KZ

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    3. Titanically dumb.

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    4. I can't agree more 2:20. You would think TDH would at least have Googled "D'Leisha Dent" before he wrote five posts saying she couldn't get in college after she had already been given and accepted a scholarship.

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    5. Marcus can you read?

      Let me spell it out for you:

      April 27, it is reported that Dent has signed at Miles College.

      May 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, Somerby talks about what a tough time she'll have even getting into a college.

      Now before your panties get too knotted up, note that I am merely saying Somerby is astoundingly intellectually incurious once he establishes the story he wants to feed you, and that trait is matched only by his astounding laziness, since googling things up is too much work.

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    6. I think you miss the entire point. Someone does well in school grade and activity-wise, yet was at risk of not being eligible for a four year college because she was unable to do well on a standardized test. It suggests perhaps many students are not being well prepared for college in spite of the fact they are being lead to believe that they are excelling academically.

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    7. Why is it that Marcus, who seems to be one of TDH's best defenders, can’t accept what he has written?

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    8. What's the point supposed to be?

      It's nice to have a point, I find.

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    9. Isn't that why you are in the crown?

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    10. I agree with 3:01. Anyone who does not see that standardized tests do not meaure hard work,
      the ability to perform well in class, and leadership qualities misses the point.

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    11. It stated in the article Somerby was discussing the Dent might not be accepted to a four year college. Somerby does not know Dent. He wasn't the one characterizing her college prospects. He was discussing an article that talked about her.

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    12. It stated in the Atlantic article she had a tentative scholarship offer. By the time BOB began writing about her she accepted it.

      Your Blogmaster disappeared that fact. And as the series progressed, it went from "may not move on to college" to "can't get accepted to college." All the while, from start to finish she had been given and accepted an offer to attend college.

      As an entertainer once wrote: As an act of journalism, this was extremely bad work. As an act of novel construction, this piece of work was sublime.

      KZ

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    13. There is a difference between a scholarship offer and an offer of admission. I don't believe the offer mentioned by the article was for a scholarship (which means they pay your way). Also, the article said the acceptance letter hadn't arrived yet.

      I know he didn't "disappear" that fact because I read it here, not at the Atlantic. It is likely that when Somerby started writing about this, her situation had already been resolved, because that is the nature of publication leadtimes for magazines.

      It remains true that she couldn't get accepted to college on the basis of her academic work, which IS what Somerby was discussing. It has been traditional for athletes to be offered scholarships based on their sports ability, but NCAA has tightened up requirements that athletes be able to graduate, set minimum ACT/SAT scores for them, and gpa's because it is a scandal when athletes play well to the end of their eligibility and then cannot graduate.

      But we know you do not care about any of this. You care only that Somerby be shown to be hypocrite or monster.

      I suppose that is the nature of mental illness.

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    14. Oh, good grief! Stop inventing a new narrative to cover a narrative that isn't true.

      No NCAA institution will offer a scholarship to an athlete if there is the least buit of doubt that the athlete can't be admitted. They don't have that many to offer under NCAA rules, and they are quite careful to whom they are offered.

      Please stop pretending you know anything at all about this.

      It is hilarious to see Bob's few remaining fans unable to admit that their guru is WRONG, and then when he is clearly shown to be WRONG twist themselves into pretzels trying to explain it all away.

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    15. Here is what I said: "I don't believe the offer mentioned by the article was for a scholarship"

      How does that conflict with anything you've said? Or maybe you were speaking to KZ and not me? But KZ isn't a fan of "Bob."

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    16. Well, here is what the story that KZ linked to actually said:

      "D’Leisha Dent, a three-sport athlete at Central High School, might find her work load a little lighter when she gets to college.

      "Dent signed Thursday to compete in volleyball and track at Miles College in Fairfield."

      Unlike the utterly incorrect nonsense Somerby foolishly continues writing weeks after she signed her letter of intent, she is going to college. Miles College, in fact.

      And now you want to say that she was offered the opportunity at Miles, but it wasn't a scholarship offer? Oh, good grief, the knots BOBfans tie themselves into to excuse his laziness and lack of intellectual curiosity once his mind is made up.

      If you know anything at all, then you know you don't sign a letter of intent without a scholarship offer. That's what letters of intent are for -- to bind the athlete to that school. And no "walk-on" needs to sign a letter of intent.

      And you know what? This is the real trouble with "American discourse" these days -- not Maureen Dowd, not Rachel Maddow, or any of Bob's favorite targets.

      It's people who already have their minds made up and won't let the truth get in the way.

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    17. KZ, I also find it fascinating now that you put in in one place how Somerby evolved from "may not move on to college" to "can't get accepted to college" in the span of a few short days.

      And of course, the BOBfans will ignore all that -- including the fact that she signed well before she "may not get to college" so they can pretend their hero is correct.

      Meanwhile, Bob will continue to pound his favored targets for using the wrong adjective.

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    18. By the way, if you google the story that KZ found, you will find that D'Leisha chose Miles because her boyfriend got a football ride to Miles, and Miles is close to home in suburban Birmingham.

      The story also contains this quote from her: “This is the best opportunity, and also they’re offering me the most. I could have had the opportunity to go to Kentucky or Mobile."

      So I guess our lazy-as-Bob defender can stop twisting himself into a pretzel wondering if she was offered an actual scholarship.

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    19. Mobile is the home of the University of South Alabama, a Division 1 state university that is not historically black, like Miles. We can, of course, only speculate on what institution may have been interested in her from Kentucky.

      She may, of course, been embellishing her offers. Or Hannah-Jones may have diminished them to fit her meme. bob, on the other hand, either failed to find out the facts or ignored them, in order to fit his.

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    20. Anon @ 8:51

      Thanks, but credit for the link goes to Mr. J. Scrum-Half.

      KZ

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    21. Do you realize how pathetic this defense is?

      Dent was class president, on a mayor's youth council, homecoming queen, track star, and had TWO (count them, two) choices of colleges to attend. And she was the best of Central high's graduating seniors. THAT is the point of the article. That Central High students were not being well prepared for college.

      You can focus on Somerby's failure to indpendently investigate the journalism in Hannah-Jones's article, or you can talk about why Tuscalooosa is not educating those high school students and why Hannah-Jones prefers to focus on resegregation instead of academic performance. Which do you think is more important?

      You think it is a better use of time to focus on trivialities of how Somerby talked about Dent's prospects -- which are limited, no matter how you slice it.

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  5. Totally irrelevant observation: I've always been struck by Auletta's physical resemblance to the late Gore Vidal. An unacknowledged legacy? Leave it to Gore to be straight all those years while pretending to be the other way just to be contrary. (He liked to say people aren't hetero or homo, just sexual.)

    I've been scanning the Times's commentary pages for wisdom on the Abramson scuffle but it's silence as far as the eye can see.

    Dowd is supposedly a good friend of Jill's. But nothing last Sunday. Do we not discuss family business in public? Is the canning of Jill being taken as a message that the rest of you cattle better behave? Is terror rampaging the halls of the Times?

    Sounds like good management to me. Keep reminding the prima donnas that nobody's indispensable.

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    1. Yes, chill the media so that if they ever had the slightest inclination to write something important, they'll think twice now.

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  6. A real quandary -- are these quotes from our tribe or the other one?

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  7. What, them issue corrections: The Daily Howler is a real piece of work. Here’s why:

    For two weeks Somerby made a very rare mistake in a series. The error didn’t contradict the basic thrust of the series, but it was a large mistake, and it came early on and in every post in the series:

    Somerby: 5/5 "D’Leisha Dent is a superb young person. It’s astonishing, and a national problem, that she may not move on to college,....

    5/9 "Why is it that D’Leisha Dent, who seems to be one of Central’s best students, can’t get accepted to college?"

    Today Somerby repeated his error in this blog post, obscuring the size of the error a bit. But here we are, weeks later, and his posts remain uncorrected on-line.

    No correction has been posted on-line. No correction has been posted on Nexis.


    We saw this same who-gives-a-shittism in the Times’ early, egregious misreporting about the killing of Trayvon Martin. In its first report on the younger woman headlined in this post, TDH made a truly egregious error.

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    1. This wasn't Somerby's error. It was a statement in the article he was discussing that was made obsolete by subsequent events. What don't you get about that?

      When you ignore the facts to attack Somerby, you reveal that you care nothing whatsoever about truth -- you only care about hurting Somerby. So inquiring minds have to ask -- what did he ever do to you?

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    2. That's OK. My comment wasn't my comment. It was Bob's. It was written attacking the New York Times over an error made by Krugman. The Times didn'ty make the error either. Bob just chose to attack them for not correcting it to his satisfaction.

      So, to plagiarize again:

      When you ignore the facts to attack me, you reveal that you care nothing whatsoever about truth -- you only care about defending Somerby. So inquiring minds have to ask -- what did he ever do to you?

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    3. What? Why, he's giving me a handjob under the desk right now!

      (KZ will be by to lap it up in a bit, as always, then post that the flavor was not what he expected.)

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  8. Guess it depends on whether you agree with the opening and closing lines.

    On whether it is a quandry.

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  9. It's been more than 24 hours since commenter Jonny Scrum-Half performed a public service for readers of this blog by noting they had been misinformed by a long series of references to a young woman unable or perhaps unable to get into a four year college.

    As a furhter public service we repeat the following:

    "Everybody makes mistakes; that mistake was a beaut. And uh-oh! Flipping around the web yesterday, we saw Auletta’s original, erroneous copy still on display at several prominent sites.

    (Example: As of this morning's posting, the erroneous copy is still on display at Ezra Klein’s brainy new site.)

    Everybody makes mistakes. In this instance, Auletta committed a genuine groaner.

    That said, the way these plights have been discussed takes us beyond the realm of “mistake.” It takes us the realm of “novel,” the place where our national discourse will routinely be found."

    ReplyDelete