tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post6249475242662524202..comments2024-02-24T18:44:39.324-08:00Comments on Trials & Tribulations: Fact Checking Mark Bowden's Curious Vanity Fair Article on Stephanie Lazarus, Part VISprockethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837416113512618694noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-44130660186352499642012-11-08T06:40:47.117-08:002012-11-08T06:40:47.117-08:00As a former journalist, I know these standards, to...As a former journalist, I know these standards, too, and I agree that one cannot have just some of the facts and then leave the rest to imagination and call the article a factual report. Clearly VF is all about readership and damn the facts, full steam ahead.<br /><br />I also think that when a major magazine makes any inference that a reporter such as yourself has made errors and then, realizing their mistake, fails to correct that statement, they are leaving themselves wide open for libel or slander suits. I take this as seriously as you do, and am intending you are getting both the answers to all your questions and a retraction of their incorrect statement about you!Sandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02265922352726668243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-67153942926245090752012-10-26T14:47:36.293-07:002012-10-26T14:47:36.293-07:00I can only imagine what the late, great Dominick D...I can only imagine what the late, great Dominick Dunne would have had to say about this! I miss his writing.<br /><br />Thank you (again and again) for keeping us up to date with this. You're the best!Maddienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-39298537846825542312012-10-26T11:44:06.045-07:002012-10-26T11:44:06.045-07:00Bowden is the author of a long article (from an up...Bowden is the author of a long article (from an upcoming book) in the current issue of VF on the months leading up to the Navy Seals killing Bin Laden - now I have to wonder if we can trust the reporting in the that story!<br /><br />I'm disappointed in the magazine that I've been buying for several years now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-31518552575095240452012-10-26T10:02:36.764-07:002012-10-26T10:02:36.764-07:00Anon @ 7:25 PM yesterday.
I'm sorry this comm...Anon @ 7:25 PM yesterday.<br /><br />I'm sorry this comment was approved late. Real life responsibilities to my family have to come first.<br /><br />I'll respond to this in depth later, but the short answer for now is, there are journalistic standards that every media outlet, and individual journalist should strive for, whether it is reporting on Lindsay Lohan's latest drama, the next hurricane to hit land, corruption in government scandals or a murder of an innocent woman.<br /><br />There is no excuse for not following journalistic standards in each and every story that's reported, and fact checking is one of those important standards. We need to hold our media sources to those standards each and every time. <br /><br />Just because a story reads well should not exempt it from thoroughly fact checking the story.<br /><br />More later...<br /><br /><a href="http://journalism.nyu.edu/assets/PageSpecificFiles/Ethics/NYU-Journalism-Handbook-for-Students.pdf" rel="nofollow"><b>NYU Ethics Journalism Handbook - PDF</b> </a><br /><br />Read Mr. Bowden's bio at Vanity Fair. <br /><br />"He is an adjunct professor at his alma mater, Loyola College in Maryland, where he teaches creative writing and journalism." <br /><br />Mr. Bowden KNOWS these standards.Sprockethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03837416113512618694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-64337747070795375092012-10-25T19:28:52.414-07:002012-10-25T19:28:52.414-07:00Sproket,
Forgive me as I open my mouth . . . I wa...Sproket,<br /><br />Forgive me as I open my mouth . . . I was the one who called the Vanity Fair article "riveting" shortly after it was published. I found your blog shortly after you began covering the Stephanie Lazarus case and I was smitten with your blogs; how in depth you covered the case, I was with you every step of the way. I see your point with the Vanity Fair article, however I also see it as a piece of journalism which covers a murder trial and the background, including the people involved. I by no way see it as having to reach to the factual integrity of a court proceeding. I get what you are saying about the inaccuracies, they are there, like they are in so many other publications-even the campaigns that are going on now-for the highest offices in our land. It's everywhere! Reader beware! As I learned in college as a criminal justice major-don't believe anything you read-check it out! I followed the Lazarus case like a squirrel after a nut. Several of my friends, to whom I showed the article, consumed it. I had one friend, a professor, who stayed up late reading until she finished. The lively discussions that continued, for the person just reading the article, was not about inconsequential errors, at least for them, who had no knowledge of the case. Rather it was about so many huge issues that the Lazarus case brought to the surface: DNA evidence viable after 23 years, a successful police detective keeping a secret of murder, finally justice for a family that always knew-to name a few. <br />You can say fact check and you are correct, they should have done better but I will say this, no one potentially knows this case better than you. If every sentence that was ever printed was fact checked perhaps our reading would be "correct" but then again by who's definition? That can open a whole other interpretation. <br />I think you are fantastic. I think you should be writing the articles!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-48704627538910653842012-10-24T16:26:37.435-07:002012-10-24T16:26:37.435-07:00It seems to me that the truth and correct facts is...It seems to me that the truth and correct facts is always a substantive issue. Unfortunately, the incorrect "facts" in the article seem to be a sign of the times. You can have your own opinions but not your own facts.<br />Thanks as always for your hard work.Jane from PAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-3225767546674218522012-10-24T10:44:41.446-07:002012-10-24T10:44:41.446-07:00if a police detective were caught fudging what a s...if a police detective were caught fudging what a suspect said in a murder interrogation, they would be blistered on the stand, and rightfully so. the conviction might even be lost for it - guilty people have walked for less. just sayin<br /><br />meanwhile bowden's editor says "its hard to see a substantive issue"?!?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-65467974197932433552012-10-24T09:48:27.722-07:002012-10-24T09:48:27.722-07:00as of 12:30p EST on 10/24, the new "correctio...as of 12:30p EST on 10/24, the new "correction" is still wrong on Vanity Fair's website<br /><br />Vanity Fair and Mr. Murphy seem incapable of defending Bowden's article without making things worse for themselves<br /><br />if they want to put this debacle behind them, perhaps VF and Bowden ought to consider a different public relations strategy than lying and hidingAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-24601639338030934002012-10-24T07:23:24.365-07:002012-10-24T07:23:24.365-07:00To quote Sonny and Cher out of context, the beat g...To quote Sonny and Cher out of context, the beat goes on!<br /><br />I can't wait for the next chapter.<br /><br />ritanitahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01798894468241676294noreply@blogger.com