Friday, June 03, 2005

NOTED AT THE HERALD. Earlier today I criticized ABC News's The Note for assuming the Herald's Noelle Straub had not attempted to contact National Review in order to place Michael Murphy's quote about Mitt Romney in some context. There was simply no way The Note-sters could know that without asking her.

Now I've been informed by the Herald's Washington-bureau chief, Andrew Miga, that Straub did indeed call NR several times yesterday to no avail. I'm not surprised.

I'm sure if The Note started making calls to verify every item, Mark Halperin and crew could never actually get the thing e-mailed out. But they've got to do a better job of filtering out comments that they have no business making unless they check them first by picking up the phone.

Should I have picked up the phone? As I wrote earlier, that's always the blogging dilemma. My intent was to whack The Note, period. My case would have been stronger if I'd called Straub. But I can think of three other calls I could have made, too. And then this ceases to be a blog.

That's not an excuse. Every honest blogger will admit that we're all still trying to figure this thing out.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Herald should have laid off Gerry Callahan. From last Friday's Globe:

'Don't count on big mouth broadcasters John Dennis and Gerry Callahan to show up at this weekend's ''Queer Eye" party at Club Cafe. Chatting with Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino on WEEI yesterday, Callahan was miffed that Carson Kressley and friends are being allowed to throw out the first pitch at Fenway Sunday. Callahan asked Lucchino if the Sox brass received complaints about "fruitcakes" "sashaying" in front of children and families, and on a Sunday, of all days. "No," replied Lucchino. (The Fab 5 will be in Boston as part of Pride Week and to screen excerpts of the "Queer Eye" season premiere featuring the Sox.) Not satisfied, Callahan asked Sox pitcher Mike Timlin, who did play ball, saying homosexuals are "not living correctly." Since D & C have been called on the carpet before -- comparing a gorilla to a Metco student earned them a two-week suspension -- we wondered if WEEI program manager Jason Wolfe was upset. Nope. It's not that Kressley's gay, he explained, "it's the openness and the flaunting of it." Hmm. Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign and an Attleboro native, had this to say: "Sounds to me like Timlin and the people at the radio station need a makeover."'
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And outside Fenway, the "Jeter swallows" t-shirts are for sale every ten feet. Why is this still ok?