Don't Blame the Player, Blame the Game

I would have hired Kendra Marr.
Why? Because her resume and my resume are so alike. Same undergrad and grad school. Same love of journalism. We both worked in the San Francisco Bay region. Both of us are women of color.
I think I also understand how the kinds of plagiarism accusations could lead a young reporter to resign from a good job.
Sure, the player has to shoulder the blame. But I blame the game, too.

The Internet, and Internet-research techniques, make is so easy  to find facts, stories, sources and so much more. Sometimes it is easier to use a paragraph or two from an already published source than it is to report it out yourself. And don't get me started about cutting and pasting. Yes, I can understand how someone can cut and paste reference material on the wrong take (Google Docs, anyone?) and , in the rush to deadline, forget what is yours and what belongs to someone else.
Too easy to make a series of career-ending errors.
Back in the day there was a warning that "Speed Kills." Maybe for 21st century journalism the saying should be "Speed Kills Careers."
Being first, especially for websites such as Politico, is important. Maybe too important. Top the "we're first" syndrome with making sure you post hypes of your story on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and whatever other flavor of the day social media channel you use.
Sometimes it seems if there isn't any time to check back with a source or make the second phone call, or, even worse, tell the editor that the story won't be ready until tomorrow.
I share your pain, Kendra. I see myself in you and realize that it could have been me.
But I blame the game, too. These days, journalism is about speed more than it is about accuracy and objectivity.
That's why I'm not so quick to blame the player. I gotta blame the game.

Idaho Newspaper Publishes Full-Page Illustration of 'Fact Check' Press Release

This is the first time I've ever heard of a newspaper handling a press release like this. Thanks to the folks at the Poynter Institute for writing about this. It should make us all think before trying to oversell something in a press release.
Here's how Poynter set the scene:
"The Times-News of Twin Falls, Idaho ran a full-page illustration on its Sunday opinion section front that fact-checked, point-by-point, a press release from Republican Sen. Mike Crapo.
"This page appeared as a section front on the Sunday, Oct. 9 opinion section.The newspaper tells readers that it gets dozens of press releases every day; before publishing them, 'we also like to check all releases for both spin and accuracy before we publish them.' In this release, Crapo's office announced legislation to cap the capital gains and dividend tax rate. The newspaper says the release's description of a 'guaranteed' tax from the health care overhaul is a 'half truth' because most people will never pay it.
"The newspaper concludes that although the release is factual, 'the data is also spun harder than it should be,' and it calls on politicians to avoid 'the most hyperbolic of methods to crunch statistics.' "
Click here to read what a blogger for ACES, the American Copy Editors Society, has to say about the page.

What are You Reading it On?

A new report from comScore shows nearly three out of five tablet owners (58 percent) consume news on their tablets at least occasionally. Twenty-two percent do so almost daily. The report, according to a post on poynter.org, a website that is part of the Poynter Institute "a school for journalists, future journalists, and teachers of journalists,  also breaks down the times of day people are most active on different devices. The patterns largely confirm conventional wisdom, but the illustration is helpful nonetheless. Smartphone and tablet browsing spike early, about 8 a.m., as people awaken. Computer traffic peaks slightly later, around 9 a.m. After that, however, the patterns diverge.
•Computer traffic stays strong through the morning, peaks again at lunch time, and falls sharply in the evening.
•Tablet traffic sags through the afternoon, but surges to its highest point from about 8 p.m. to midnight (notably, tablets account for more news traffic than either computers or smartphones during that period).
•Smartphone traffic is remarkably even throughout the day. This seems to be because people carry them at all times and use them for a variety of brief tasks wherever they are.
Click here for the comScore report.