Thursday, November 20, 2008

Where There's Smoke, There's Anonymous Sources

Anonymous sources are wonderful. No names to spell correctly, no towns or occupations to identify. Every quote is a gem of relevance that fully supports the reporter's prepackaged premise, lede.

Such is the case with today's Big Story (not): "Smoke Out ... a day to help smokers quit" by Susan Hoffman. But even before the array of "one woman said" bits, Hoffman seems to making it up, from the very start.
Smokers huddle close to the walls of a building, or sit together under a shelter far from the door.
Hoffman doesn't tell readers which building she saw, which "shelter" she visited or when she made this foray into smokers' huddles.

For starters, Arcadia has shelters? Pray tell: are they of the bus, bomb or homeless type? Not a one, as far as we know.

For seconds, here in Our Little Town, chawing, smoking, and spitting are considered fundamental rights. Hoffman's Big City stereotype of huddled outcasts is pretty hard to find, if it exists at all. Outdoor smoking in these parts typically happens in parking lots, leaning up against a pickup truck, or under one of our magnificent grandfather oaks. Tell me where Hoffman found huddled outcasts, please.

It has made many smokers paranoid. None of the smokers approached for comments realized the Great American Smokeout day was approaching, but [sic] none planned to quit, even for a day.

"I haven't thought about quitting at all," said one man. "I enjoy it too much." One woman said she had actually quit for five months while she was in the military service and had no choice. "But as soon as I got out, I strated right back up again."

Several said the cost of cigarette is not much of a deterrent here. "But if I lived in New Jersey or up north where it's $5 or $6 for ap ack, then I'd think about it," one said. Most of them said they don't think about smoking while they're working. "As long as we're busy, you don't even have time to think about it," one woman said.

And who, exactly, is "one woman" who speaks for all of the smokers? Old Word Wolf is just cynical enough to think she smells, not smoke, but a story the writer merely phoned in. That is, Hoffman was ordered to write a story that's not news but the calendar and an organizational agenda handed her editors an easy topic. And rather than actually report, Hoffman took the easy way out, complete with faked stereotypes and faked sources to tell faked news.

Friday, November 14, 2008

School Board Story: All Show, No Tell

The local school board is starting an on-line program of classes aimed at reducing its student drop-out rate. So, exactly what is the school drop-out rate? No telling.

Which classes in the curriculum are part of the program? How many students are expected to use the program? No telling.
What does the program cost? No telling.
How does a student enroll? Who supervises the work? No telling.
Where is it to be installed? When does the program begin? No telling.

In an unrelated story inside the paper, the school district's superintendent, Adrian Cline, show-and-tells his own FDR mementos to the local historical society. Cline comments that FDR was able to hide his disability from the public because "he had an understanding with the media. You'd never see that today."

Actually, Cline himself seems to have a pretty good understanding with the media. "Reporter" John Lawhorne has been carefully schooled: No telling anything.

So what's wrong with protecting your friends?

Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism describes its pretty well: journalists ... must maintain allegiance to citizens and the larger public interest above any other if they are to provide the news without fear or favor. This commitment to citizens first is the basis of a news organization's credibility, the implied covenant that tells the audience the coverage is not slanted for friends or advertisers.

John Lawhorne just doesn't get it.

In other news, the Lake Placid Journal breaks a really big story. It looks like God will be pursing other interests.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Muddy Mess Gets Big Play

For some reason, the DeSoto Sun seems to be relying more and more often on amateur photography to fill its pages. The result is clearly inspired by the bulletin board at the laundromat rather than the tenets of photojournalism, the principles of page design, or even the urge to be reader friendly.

Instead of one story-telling shot, well composed and thoughtfully selected, the page pourer (I can't bring myself to say "editor" or even "designer") uses nine muddy, back-lit, identically posed gangs to report a local hospital golf benefit. "Line 'em up against the wall and shoot!" seems to have been the command. Even the guys who couldn't stay for the photo op are included as "not shown."


This muddy, unreadable, uninviting report straddles the "double truck," the newspaper's center page -- prime territory for good design.

And just in case you're thinking this page is a fluke, here's page 14 in the same edition:

Small-time papers like to "get everyone's name in." The old wisdom was this would draw in readers. Please. No one wants to look at, much less actually read, a page presented as a hodge podge of random heads in hats except the principals themselves.

In reality, there are more readers -- and more appreciation for the nature of the event -- when the kids in charge of pouring InDesign plan an inviting, you-gotta-read-me layout. Quantity does not equate to quality.

As for reading, apparently the editors didn't. Every cut line -- all five of them -- in this hodge podge contains the refrain "... vets at the Arcadia Veterans Day parade Tuesday." OK, we get it; all the pictures are of the vets at the Arcadia Veterans Day Parade Tuesday.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Preacher Busy Plagiarizing, Part 2

Is the type too small to read? Then just go to the Web page from which this column has been copied. You'll have to scroll down past last week's plagiarism (read our Nov. 1 post, below) to reach this week's plagiarism. But it's all there.

Old Word Wolf wrote DeSoto Sun editors to point out that Patrick Elmore, pastor of two United Methodist Churches in these parts, had appropriated the copyrighted material of another writer. Nonetheless, Elmore's Plagiarism Part 2 has been awarded six columns in today's paper.

... Here’s the rest of the sermon: ...

It’s clearly the culture and thus acceptable to plagiarize at the Charlotte Sun, DeSoto Sun, and such. How does Old Word Wolf know this? Take a look at who's still "on the payroll."

Last week, Laura Schmid, David Dunn-Rankin and Chris Porter, principal editors of the DeSoto Sun and Charlotte Sun, were notified of Patrick Elmore’s cut-and-paste Saturday sermon. This week, they played Elmore’s Saturday sermon, part 2, plagiarized from the same copyrighted source, large and wide. Plagiarist’s Status: still on the payroll.

A couple of weeks back, staff writer John Lawhorne, used his byline instead of crediting Wikipedia for his “research” into a band’s history. Plagiarist's status: still on the payroll.

Last month, Gerald A. Rogavin, writing for the Gondolier Sun, a sister publication, did a crude plagiarism of a New York Times newspaper article. Plagiarist’s status: still on the payroll.

Susan Cairo, who plagiarized a park service brochure rather than write her own copy about Myakka State Park: still on the payroll.

Barbara Oehlbeck, who plagiarized the History Channel back in May for “her” piece on Decoration Day, was recently awarded a bylined article announcing a USF award to a plant biologist. Plagiarist’s status: Well, you get the point.

These are only the most recent examples of nearly three dozen cases of plagiarism (including the occasional editor and
not just freebie "columnists") that we have posted in this blog since launching about a year ago in response to more than a dozen earlier cases that were reported to the publishers and largely ignored.

The publisher’s and editor’s culture at Sun Coast Media Group conglomerate condones – encourages – plagiarism by continuing to accept these articles without consequences for the plagiarists. Plagiarism is cheap, easy, and there’s no real penalty, right? Staff writers, editors, "men of god," and correspondents have all at one time or another cut-and-pasted their way to a byline at these papers. Here, there’s no expectation that the “journalists” investigate, check, attribute, or otherwise play fair with readers, subscribers, advertisers, much less the actual the ethics of publishing.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Plagiarism's Hidden Agenda

Today’s three-column business page item, “Mid-Florida Regional MLS goes public,” carries the byline of Stephen Lingley, a writer presented as a “guest columnist.” The look and feel of Lingley’s article – on the Venice Gondolier business page, with a photo, byline, and a little paragraph about the writer (“outgoing president of the Venice Area Board of Realtors) – suggests in every way possible that Lingley wrote the column.

He didn’t. It’s an abbreviated version of a Web page posted last month by Mid-Florida Regional Multiple Listing service. Here's the evidence -- but the crime goes beyond the mere copying of words.
MFRMLS: More than 80% of homebuyers start their home search online.
Lingley: More than 80 percent of homebuyers start their home search online.
MFRMLS: Increasingly, 3rd party services are taking over the top search engine spots for the most relevant search terms.
Lingley: Increasingly, third-party services are taking over the top search engine spots for the most relevant search terms.
MFRMLS: Realtors who wish to take advantage of 3rd party services such as Yahoo Real Estate, Cyberhomes, Realtor.com, Trulia, and Zillow often find it can get very expensive.
Lingley: Realtors who wish to take advantage of 3rd party services such as Yahoo Real Estate, Cyberhomes, Realtor.com, Trulia, and Zillow often find it can get very expensive.
And so on. You get the idea. But there's more going on here than garden variety plagiarism.

A local real estate agent – president of his professional group, no less – appropriates a chunk of promotional literature without disclosing its source or origin to readers. The verbiage surely has been freely offered up by the nice MLS folks. After all, the words promote their services and members, Lingley’s little column gets out the MLS message, and the nicely placed spot doesn’t cost the organization a dime in advertising. It is pure agenda disguised as news.

Is it plagiarism? Technically, yes. Lingley presents the work of others as his own. But the sin is more venial than word theft. Lingley and the Gondolier “editors” (I’ll be generous, here), have hidden the origin and purpose of the information. Sure, it’s a “column” and free to be as biased as it wants. The trouble is, no one is telling readers the bias cloaks an MLS marketing agenda.

What Lingley omits from his carefully snipped column are the parts that go like this:
MyFloridaHomesMLS.com is not nearly as powerful as MLXchange. Consumers have access to only a handful of the search criteria available in MLXchange, which means as a REALTOR® you have the power to deliver much more highly-targeted results to your clients than the consumer website can. MyFloridaHomesMLS.com is really meant to be a first stop for homebuyers, a place where they can get a feel for what they want and establish a relationship with a REALTOR®. Once that relationship is established, they are most likely to begin relying on your expertise, on your IDX website, and on the custom agent web page that you provide
The Gondolier has been covering recent controveries surrounding government in the sunshine in Our Little Town. Old Word Wolf suggests editors examine the concept of journalism in the sunshine and spike these thinly veiled ads.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Hed Delivers Snickers for Kids Instead of Facts for Grownups

Those cute kids in the hed shop last night wrote for the giggle instead of the facts -- again. This morning’s three-column headline on the Florida Page, “Naked man says cops broke in without warrant,” proves silly still rules at the playpen copy desk.

The headline kid takes a temporary condition – sleeping in the nude – to characterize a general state of being. In fact, the person in question was awakened in his home – where there’s no law against nakedness – in a case of mistaken identity. By the time the victim filed a complaint against Collier County’s finest, he had found his jeans.

The story says the victim believes he was targeted for a warrantless search based on an anonymous Crime Stopper’s tip because he wears dreads, caps and tats. “I like my dreads. I like my gold teeth. I like my tattoos on my arms,” he’s quoted as saying. Those are his permanent conditions. Less of a snicker and far more relevant and accurate: “Tattooed man says cops broke in without warrant.”

But a Sun copy desk kid (can’t bring myself to say “copy editor”) has an ongoing, adolescent fascination with all things nekkid.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Intern Deserves Better Coaching

Interning reporter Samantha Williamson has covered many DeSoto Sun beats lately, but she seems to get little coaching or mentoring along the way. There’s no evidence she’s checking and double checking her stories or doing background research. The latest free-wheeling free ad she writes – apparently with the blessings of three – or is it four? – “editors,” “assistant editors,” “city editors,” and “news editors” is yesterday’s headline: Home care service helps elder ‘angels.’

The tyro reporter either failed to search Florida’s Department of State on-line records for this corporation’s status, or deemed the result of her records search irrelevant. A quick spin through the database shows Florida “administratively dissolved” the firm in question, Precious Angels Home Care Service, back in September for failure to file its 2008 annual report with the state. The same fate seems to have been dealt the owner’s sideline business, Bunker Babes Goat Farm, at the same address (a rural mobile home).

The young reporter fails to tell readers anything about the owner’s background, education or training that qualifies her to care for elderly clients. An on-line check of licensed health-care workers finds the owner is a certified nursing assistant – a designation the state limits to practicing under “direct nursing supervision” and only for tasks “of a routine, repetitive nature” and which “shall not require the CNA to exercise nursing knowledge, judgment, or skill,” according to Florida Board of Nursing literature.

The newspaper intern reports the firm has “locations” in Port Charlotte, but there’s no listing in that area's current telephone book under that name in the white pages, yellow pages, or “business blue” pages.

The newspaper intern failed to note whether the firm is a franchise operation (nothing wrong with that), because there are scores of businesses using the Precious Angels name across the land. (Most seem to be child-related, and the name evokes the title of a best-selling true-crime story about a mother who murders her children.)

So, questions abound – and the young reporter is not being coached to address them before she hits the send key. Here are just the first ten or so that pop into the skeptical, fact-checking mind of a reader who sincerely hopes this young professional can be encouraged to do better:

--Is this firm working as a brokerage or referral center, or does the owner herself provide assisted living services?
--How many employees or “names in the Rolodex” are involved?
--What’s the price range of services?
--What’s with this “inactive” status for its business license and the “administratively dissolved” issue with the state?
--Is the firm insured and bonded?
--The owner says her “caregivers” are drug tested and undergo background checks – but what about her “companions,” “homemakers,” and “shoppers” who provide the non-medical services? Drug tests and background checks are fairly pricey – how many has she conducted so far?
-- How does the owner deliver “customized services” in hospitals, assisted-living facilities and nursing homes, which are usually pretty careful and who practices “care giving” within their walls and are wary of non-family visitors?
--Is the service registered with the state's Department of Elder Affairs?
--Given the new level of concern for patient privacy, how does the owner deal with the contents of her client’s medical history?
-- How does she handle “medication reminders,” which sounds a lot like direct nursing?
-- Does the owner provide emergency medical equipment when she “helps with transportation to medical appointments?” Portable defibrillators? Oxygen? CPR? Wheelchair accessible vans?

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Methodist Minister Publishes Amish Writer's Book Chapter as His Own

This morning's DeSoto Sun carries a column under the photo and byline of Rev. Patrick Elmore, pastor of two United Methodist churches in a neighboring village. The column Rev. Elmore calls his own is, in fact, the copyrighted material of John Coblentz,, an Anabaptist who has made an honest living since 1992 by selling his book, Chrisitan Family Living.

Our local Christian Man of God does not attribute or acknowledge his source. The shirt-tail even promises Sun readers they can "read more of the Rev. Elmore's column in Nov. 8's DeSoto Sun." No: We can read more of John Coblentz. And if we don't want wait for the second installment, we can click the link and go straight to the source.

So, what exactly does god's word look like to a plagiarist? Sort of like Noah's ark: the paragraphs come in two by two. Here's the evidence, Coblentz first and the local preacher second.

John Coblentz in 1992: To say that the family is in a state of deterioration in Western culture is anticlimactic.

Rev. Patrick Elmore in 2008: To say that the family is in a state of deterioration in Western culture is an understatement.

John Coblentz: Many have said it. Many are saying it. And the family continues to fall apart. In spite of the multitude of books, seminars, and experts, husbands and wives are still alienating themselves from each other, parents from children, and children from parents.

Rev. Patrick Elmore: Many have said it. Many are saying it. And the family continues to fall apart. In spite of the books, seminars and experts, parents are still alienating themselves from each other, and from children, and children from parents.

Coblentz: Unfortunately, what many fail to realize is that the problem is not simply the Western family, but Western life. While millions are being spent on more programs, better methods, and clearer training for parents, the real problem is often unaddressed. The way we Westerners live--the things we think are important, the attitudes we have toward life, the very structure of our home life--renders ineffective much of the good advice we hear.

Rev. Elmore: Unfortunately, what many fail to realize is that the problem is not simply the modern family, but modern family lifestyle. While millions are being spent on more programs, better methods and clearer training for parents, the real problem is often unaddressed.The things we think are important, the attitudes we have toward life, the very structure of our home life renders ineffective much of the good advice we hear.

Coblentz: One example will suffice. While many Christian parents are wondering whether the music their teens listen to is suitable listening, and sometimes arguing about volume and forbidding this or that tape, few modern parents ever consider that today's music industry, including the Christian music industry, has virtually destroyed certain Christian values. Silence. The sheer noise (even nice-sounding noise) in many homes today would have driven many of our great-grandparents out to the pastures for a quiet walk. Worship. Where, in all the hullaboo of Christian music today and the idolizing of favorite groups and the scrambling for each new tape and bickering over how loud to play it, is the reverent sense of God? And how many thousand-dollar music systems (which are not worth a nickel in heaven) have silenced the voices of families singing simple but heartfelt praise to God?

Rev. Elmore: While many Christian parents wonder whether the music their teens listen to is suitable listening, and sometimes argue about the volume and forbidding this or that, a few 21st century parents ever consider that today’s music industry, including the Christian music industry, has virtually destroyed certain Christian values. Silence. The sheer noise in many homes today would have driven many of our great-grandparent out to the pastures for a quiet walk. Worship. Where in all the hullabaloo of Christian music today and the idolizing of favorite groups and the scrambling for each new release and bickering over how loud to play it, is the reverent sense of God? And how many thousand dollar music systems have silenced the voices of families singing simple but heartfelt praise to God?

Coblentz: The point is simple. There are many homes which can never be wholesome until some radical changes take place in the home structure. It would be foolish to try to build a house in a swamp on straw bales. And it is just as foolish to think we can build godly homes on the values commonly accepted in Western culture. If in Christian homes we find straw bales in the foundation, we cannot correct the problem by hiring some interior decorator to counsel us on paint. The foundation needs help first.

Rev. Elmore: The point is simple. There are many homes which can never be wholesome until some radical changes take place in the home structure. It would be foolish to try to build a house in a swamp on straw. And it is just as foolish to think we can build godly homes on the values commonly accepted in Western culture. If in Christian homes we find straw bales in the foundation, we cannot correct the problem by hiring some interior decorator to counsel us on paint. The foundation needs help first.

Coblentz: This chapter is about foundational things. From the Scriptures we want to see just what God intended the family to be. We want to look at concepts which are basic to the family as a social unit. And later we want to look at some of the straw bales which our culture is pressuring us to use in our homes, and which we must reject if we are to have wholesome families.

Rev. Elmore: The Social Unit. Let’s talk about foundational things. From the Scriptures we want to see just what God intended the family to be. We want to look at concepts which are basic to the family as a social unit. And later we want to look at some of the straw which our culture is pressuring us to use in our homes, and which we must reject if we are to have wholesome families.

Coblentz: The Social Unit. "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up" (Deuteronomy 6:6,7). [...]

Rev. Elmore: The Social Unit. "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up" (Deuteronomy 6:6,7).

Coblentz: From these and similar Scriptures, we can easily see that God intended the family to be the most basic social unit of society. It is the place where such activities as visiting, eating, instruction, work, and play have their center. God intended that we interact with family members more than with anyone else. And having ordained the home to be the primary place of social interaction, God laid down guidelines for proper interaction.

Rev. Elmore: From these and similar Scriptures, we can easily see that God intended the family to be the most basic social unit of society. It is the place where such activities as visiting, eating, instruction, work, and play have their center. God intended that we interact with family members more than with anyone else. And having ordained the home to be the primary place of social interaction, God laid down guidelines for proper interaction.

Coblentz: As a social unit, however, the family in Western culture is seriously deficient. Those who want to work go to the corporation. Those who want to learn go to school. Those who want to play go to the park or the recreation center. Those who want to eat go to McDonalds. Visiting takes place only in snatches. Many Christian families find it strange to have the whole family home for an evening. Monday night is practice. Tuesday night is a ball game. Wednesday night is prayer meeting (for some). Thursday night is office cleaning (second job). Friday night is a social planned....Run, run, run! Such social chaos was virtually unheard of for the family 100 years ago. And so, fathers must be told to do things with their children. Parents need to plan a "family night" or "quality time" because as a social unit, the family is falling apart.
Some of the pressures of over-activity will be discussed more later, but for now, let's note that every child and every adult needs wholesome family interaction.

Rev. Elmore: As a social unit, however, the family in Western culture is seriously deficient. Those who want to work go to the work place. Those who want to learn go to school. Those who want to play go to the park or the recreation center. Those who want to eat go to McDonald’s. Visiting takes place only in snatches. Many Christian families find it strange to have the whole family home for an evening. Monday night is practice. Tuesday night is a ball game. Wednesday night is prayer meeting (for some). Thursday night is choir practice. Friday night is TGIF night out ....Run, run, run! Such social chaos was virtually unheard of for the family 100 years ago. And so, parents must be told to do things with their children. Parents need to plan a "family night" or "quality time" because as a social unit, the family is falling apart. Every child and every adult needs wholesome family interaction.