Research.
Ev is doubtless a nice guy, a good writer, a regular blogger, and as co-founder of Pyra an historical figure. But as an executive he’s in the way.
Google needs to bring in someone with a Clue, and with the executive chops to get something done.
Kinda like what Corante needs to do with people who don’t fact check.
- Updates
- Sat.4.23.2005
- Dana Blankenhorn commented on this little post, read it and add your own.
- More coverage from other blogs over at Blogdex
- Hylton Jolliffe, editor/publisher of Corante, has an open post on the matter.
April 23rd, 2005 at 1:04 pm
It’s a fair cop. I goofed. I made a mistake. I didn’t check to see if Ev was still there before writing.
I won’t do it again, if given the opportunity.
I have worked in this business for over 25 years, and I have made some mistakes. I will doubtless make more.
And I will apologize quickly every time, doing my best to make up for that mistake.
If you think I should be fired after reading this, then do write Hylton and tell him to do so. I know for a fact he’s seriously considering it.
April 23rd, 2005 at 2:04 pm
Dana, We hold journalist to a higher standard than what we normally hold your average joe blogger. For an institution whom I consider the “gold standard”, you’re gonna be more on the chopping block than some smaller average web journalism site.
When I worked in Public Relations, I’ve seen journalist fired for similar things. Things that wound up going in print with a small little retraction on F8. Do I think you need to be fired? No, honestly the only people I wish firing upon are politicians, baseball players and the occasional person in the music industry. Just realize that even a small simple bit of fact checking could prevent something like this in the future.
I think the best thing you did was to go to the sites bringing attention to this and not try to deny or cast blame elsewhere. You admit you’ve made a mistake, we all do….everyday. Just sometimes more spotlights are on some mistakes more than others. I had similar, though smaller, heat on me for prematurely calling the death of a famous drummer over on my Drumblog! website. I pulled the article as soon as conflicting stories came in, when one of my sources turned out to be false. I’ve been in those shoes before and so I’m a little less tolerant when people make the same mistakes.
If Hylton is reading this or if someone wants to pass it along, Dana needs to stay put. But you need to have some “fail safe” editorial process in place. It’s a kinda c-y-a type of process most blogs shy away from, but for a j-blog, it kinda makes sense.
Dana, I wish you well and hope that this type of thing doesn’t tarnish your career..and thank you for commenting. (i’m writing this away from my normal confines of home, so if spelling is off, I’ll correct later)
Mike