Comments on: Newsweek Justifies Rumor and Innuendo as Source

By: AJD

AJD — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:52:14 +0000

Another thing is that I think the story was a rather feeble attempt at New Journalism or literary non-fiction. The thing about doing that sort of journalism is that you have to be able to write a good story, but do the same quality of reporting you would for a run-of-the-mill news feature.

That means not relying entirely or almost entirely on people around your “main character,” but also talking to expert sources.

Had Setoodeh done that, he would have found that Larry’s case was not unusual; going all out and wearing high heels and taunting people was what he did instead of killing himself.

By: AJD

AJD — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:39:54 +0000

What’s really disgusting is that Setoodeh went to J-school at Stanford and did a (highly prestigious) Daniel Pearl Memorial Internship for the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong. That, of course, was after he had done one at U.S. News & World Report. Now, he’s an associate editor at Newsweek.

How does such a shoddy reporter do so well? It’s one thing to get a name or date wrong, but another thing entirely to print rumor as fact and blame a shooting victim for his own death.

My original reaction to the story wasn’t as negative as yours, but the more I read about it, the more it bothers me.

I wouldn’t put Setoodeh up there with the likes of Stephen Glass or David Benkof, but I would certainly call his skills as a journalist into question.

By: Regan DuCasse

Regan DuCasse — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 05:44:27 +0000

I have the copy of Newsweek, I just haven’t read it yet. Stay tuned.

By: Jason D

Jason D — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:41:26 +0000

newsweek needs some rebranding as gossipweek.

It annoys me that “news” organizations get around the inaccuracy and unprofessionalism of reporting gossip as news by saying they are running a story on the gossip itself.