Do reporters check the clips when writing for publication? Or do they rely on a faulty memory?
In the case of Jill Abramson, reviewing Carl Bernstein’s Chasing History for the New York Times, faulty memory wins out, along with a lack of fact-checking.
In a mere two lines of her review, Abramson packs in several errors that ought to be corrected.
–Will Fowler was a reporter for the Los Angeles Examiner. He never worked for the Los Angeles Times.
–Will Fowler claimed he was the first reporter at the Black Dahlia crime scene. He never said he found the body of Elizabeth Short.
–Will Fowler was also lying when he said he was the first reporter at the crime scene. He was one of the last to arrive. Will told many tall tales about his involvement in the Black Dahlia story; this was just one of them.
Reporters: Check the clips (or Google) rather than relying on your memory, which is apt to be faulty.
