STACY
HARRIS' MEDIA
WATCHDOG
Note: This column is updated on an irregular basis, depending upon reader support through advertiser links. It is NOT intended to be all inclusive.
During
the December 24, edition of PBS'
Newshour,
GWEN IFILL mispronounced Senator DANIEL INOUYE's surname.
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PAUL BOYD mis titled The Christmas Song, titling it "chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" during a November 29, 2012 segment of Inside Edition.
BROOKE ANDERSON told viewers of the November 19, 2012
edition of The Insider
that "(STEVIE) WONDER credited (DICK)
CLARK for giving him his big break in 1972." Wonder,
who had over a dozen Top Ten hits by 1972 first appeared on Clark's American Bandstand on July 8, 1963.
During the September 8, 2012 edition of WTVF-TV's 6 p.m. newscast CHRIS ARNOLD redundantly referred to a "Catholic nun."
During
the September 5, 2012 segment of Entertainment Tonight, BROOKE ANDERSON referred to the late Senator EDWARD KENNEDY's sons as "Ted and Patrick Kennedy
Jr." Kennedy's sons are EDWARD "TED" KENNEDY, JR. and PATRICK KENNEDY II.
Every
issue of The Tennessean's print edition for some
months has contained a reminder to readers that the newspaper values
accuracy, as it encourages readers to report errors.
In the August 26, 2012 print edition, one of the
newspaper's entertainment reporters, CINDY WATTS reported that DIXIE and TOM. T. HALL have been married 45 years!
The Halls were married on March 16, 1968, so that's close- but no
cigar! To make a long story short, once the error was called to
Cindy's attention, to her credit she called me about it. By that
time a number of respected news organizations had taken Watts' word for
it and the error had been circulated worldwide. In response to my
question, Cindy told me her information had come from the Halls'
"people." I was hardly surprised, suggesting to Watts' that I had
seen Halls' employees come and go over the 40 years, comparing them to
a "revolving door." At that point, Cindy's story changed
slightly: She told me the Halls had given her the
information. She added that they were not interested in
correcting it and therefore she would not be checking with Tennessee's
Department of Vital Records, the Tennessee
State Library and Archives, the Metro Archives,
ancestry.com nor any number of sources that would confirm what I had taken the time
and trouble to inform the newspaper.
Cindy's readers look to her for the truth, but she indicated the matter
would end with her phone call, claiming that her editor, LINDA ZETTLER was satisfied
with what Watts had written. If that, sadly, happens to be true,
Cindy should realize that, accurate or not, Watts' name is on what she
writes and, if that doesn't matter to her, it may to her next
employer.
Even more shocking, MEG DOWNEY,
the newspaper's managing editor rationalizes the gap between the
newspaper's stated position on accuracy and reality. Even when I
provided the location of the Halls' marriage and their marriage
certificate number, Meg assured me that "Cindy Watts did check with the
Halls and others on their marriage date, as you noted. We did not
find other information on online databases and they have not asked for
a correction."
Downey might have added that neither the Halls nor anyone else
apparently offered any other specific wedding day
either. I wonder why that might be? Does microfilm lie?
But, then again, the Halls are quick to tell anyone who is aware of
their selective memories that they are not good with dates. There
are reasons for that, found in public records and elsewhere, that blow
the lid off a carefully-crafted public image, yet due to obstacles such
as this latest example of the Tennessean's newsroom culture of
laziness, hypocrisy and enabling (all of which apparently passes muster
with Gannett,
none of which
would pass muster with the Society
of Professional Journalists), that story has yet to be written.
Full disclosure: I would be happy to answer any specific questions
about conflicts-of-interest, real or perceived, I have in reporting
these matters (including, but also above and beyond what I have
previously addressed here).
MEGYN KELLY told viewers of the July 26, 2012 edition of The O'REILLY Factor that T.J. JACKSON is JERMAINE JACKSON's son. (T.J. Jackson's father is TORIANO "TITO" JACKSON.)
RAY SUAREZ mispronounced the late actress FRANCES BAVIER's surname during the July 3, 2012 edition of PBS Newshour.
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Meteorologist AL ROKER informed viewers of the June 22, 2012
edition of NBC's Today that "KENNY CHESNEY is 'The King of Country
Music.'" ROY ACUFF is
universally known as The King of Country Music.
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Referring to DOLLY PARTON, ALAN FRIO told viewers of the June 16, 2012 edition of WSMV-TV's 10 p.m. newscast that "She's known as 'The Queen of Country Music.'" KITTY WELLS is universally known as The Queen of Country Music.During a segment that aired on the June 7, 2012 edition of the CBS Evening News, a graphic contained a misspelling of Lt. BILLIE D. HARRIS' first name.
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Following the June 5, 2012 publication
of
THOMAS BROWN's screed, I sent Brown the
following: "Thomas Brown, You appear to be in violation of your own
sites TOS (specifically the defamation clause).
"Assuming you have the common courtesy- or it decency? Integrity? Fairness?- to print this response to your unprovoked personal attack, it is likewise interesting that you have also violated the spirit of your log-in message indicating 'We would love to hear from you regarding any error, issues and enhancement that will help you...'
"Several people were interviewed for the USA TODAY article. You chose to focus solely
on me and my responses to questions asked of me.
As a quick look at my online CV
will confirm, to suggest I am (merely) a 'newsletter' editor is both
technically erroneous and, in my case, as inadequate as identifying the
pope as 'Catholic.'
"A statement that I was in search of 'riches' was not a direct quote and that I was 'disappointed' in the IPO process was only with respect to the handling of the Facebook offering. (Facebook was not my first IPO investment and some of them have turned out quite well, actually.)
"Likewise, as indicated, I fully intended to
hang on to the 100 shares I have kept, so, again, it is inaccurate to
suggest that, as a long-term investor, I would not expect fluctuations
in value. The 'current' value of these shares is not an issue
until such time as I intend to sell, thus, again, the suggestion that I
came out anything other than ahead (certainly on the day of the
Facebook IPO and arguably even now) since I was able to flip 400 shares
AT A PROFIT and there is no reason I won't be able to sell the
remaining shares at at least $37.01 is totally false.
"As to my belief that I had an edge, that belief was bolstered by MorganStanley and virtually every news outlet that reported on the IPO in advance of the offering. "
"If the class action lawsuits and/or other
investigations result in heads rolling, fines, rebukes, SEC changes and/or other indications deception or
outright fraud has occurred, won't it (re)victimize those of us
whistle-blowers who protest the chicanery for you to dismiss and
stigmatize us as 'whining'?"
Again, while soliciting responses to his blog
posts,Brown has refused to post (or otherwise acknowledge receiving or
respond to) the above.
Beginning June 1, 2012 THE
TENNESSEAN increased its print subscription prices while
slapping a paywall on its tennessean.com URL. Prior to that time,
the newspaper began to suppress real-time online feedback to articles
on its website, in the name of civility, by requiring that readers use
Facebook accounts to post their responses. The action elicited a
letter to the editor, published, in the print edition, citing the
dangers of Facebook.
In response to that observation, STACY HARRIS wrote on March 24, 2012, "How ironic that, due due a TENNESSEAN policy that discriminates against those of us who choose not to join Facebook, I could not post these same sentiments by responding to this newspaper's online invitation to 'Share Your Thoughts' using the link at tennessean.com that exists solely for that purpose!
"What is the purpose of the paper's recently
hiring a Community Engagement Editor who keeps his silence when even
his employer's best customers (I subscribe to the daily and Sunday
print editions) are prohibited by policy from being fully 'engaged' in
the real-time give-and-take?"
On April 10, 2012 amid the silence to that
point, the letter was resubmitted for publication. The action
elicited an immediate response from FRANK DANIELS III (copied to letters editor TED RAYBURN)
reiterating Gannett
policy and thanking me "for your letter to the editor which [we] will
enjoy publishing." (For undisclosed reasons, although possibly
due to circumstances such as mine, Daniels title had subtlety changed
from Community Engagement Editor to Community Conversations Editor.)
With the resubmitted letter yet to run on May 31, 2012, I wrote KATE MARYMONT informing her that "The Gannett-wide policy of requiring Facebook registration has frozen me out of not only posting to tennessean.com but now also Brainstorm Nashville.
"I understand the 'accountability' argument
but that accountability can be achieve in other ways. The new
paywall could be expanded so that, along with a user name and password,
everyone with access... must also include, say, a unique five-digit ID
number with which to readily identify the subscriber by name, address
and phone number...
"I realize I can still [email] letters to the
editor. The reality is I did submit one on this very subject...
that it was not published, that I resubmitted it and received word from
Frank Daniels, III that it would run- but I still haven't seen
it."
No reply from Ms. Marymont but, once again,
in a same-day email response, Daniels wrote (copying Ms. Marymont
and MARIA
De VARENNE), "Stacy, I will
check
on the letter."
As of June 6, 2012 the letter has not run and
no explanation has been received.
PAULA
FARIS alliteratively, but
with no evidence, referred to an "abstinence-addicted athlete" on the
May 24, 2012 edition of Good Morning America.
Reporting on DONNA SUMMER's passing, MARK BELLINGER told viewers of the May 23, 2012 edition of WTVF-TV's 5 p.m. newscast that "last year Summer was diagnosed with lung cancer even though she never smoked." The singer, in fact, was a smoker as footage of her smoking in a recording studio control room while listening to playbacks reveals.
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CHRIS
JANSING reported on the April 18, 2012 edition of
NBC
NIGHTLY
NEWS that DICK CLARK “launched” MICHAEL JACKSON's career. Jansing confuses
Clark with ED SULLIVAN.
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Daily editions of THE TENNESSEAN note that the newspaper "values accuracy" and include a phone number as well as email and snail-mail addresses readers may use to "report factual errors." A factual error in The Tennessean's May 11, 2012 print edition concerning an observer at an annual shareholders' meeting being identified in a captioned photo (credited to GEORGE WALKER IV) on the front page of the newspaper's business section as a shareholder was reported but never retracted.
Similarly, The Tennessean failed to take
responsibility for an Associated Press-generated photo that ran in the May 16, 2012 edition of the
newspaper. The photo identifies KATHLEEN ALEXANDRA "KICK" KENNEDY as the daughter
of MARY RICHARDSON KENNEDY. The correct
designation would be step-daughter.
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PIERS MORGAN referred to "country queen" TRISHA YEARWOOD on the April 13, 2012 edition of PIERS MORGAN Tonight. The Queen of Country Music is, of course, KITTY WELLS as REBA McENTIRE informed Morgan during the March 30, 2012 of the same program when Morgan suggested the title was a "fitting" description of Reba: You ARE the queen of country. I mean, lots of people are called the 'queen of country,' but I've done a little record check of my country fans- the ones who are experts- and they tell me there's only one queen. There are princesses- DOLLY, EMMYLOU. But there is only one queen."
As Morgan paused, McEntire responded emphatically: "Kitty Wells." Piers, who apparently has never heard of Wells, asked "Is that who you think?"
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Reliable
Sources anchor HOWARD KURTZ failed to correct his guest, MARISA
GUTHRIE, when Guthrie indicated on the April 8, 2012 edition of
the CNN program that "60 Minutes has been on the air for 60
years." The CBS News Sunday night staple debuted on September
24, 1968.
TOM
RANDLES mispronounced the (Hebrew) word charoset, haroset or
charoses as "hairoset" (the variant, English spellings of the
Hebrew, חֲרֽוֹסֶת , are all pronounced the same way, with emphasis on
the second syllable: ḥărōset) during the April 6, 2012 edition of WSMV-TV's
5 p.m. newscast.
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ROBIN ROBERTS'
introduced BILL WEIR's
"exclusive" report on "the company that makes those gadgets that
millions of us love" on the February 21, 2012 edition of ABC's Good Morning America.
However, following Weir's report, one in a series on the same subject
airing
not only on GMA, but also World News and Nightline,
the claim to exclusivity as well as the
motivation for the report began to unravel.
Billed as Apple's
Magic Factory, the subject of Weir's report was that of Apple's biggest
supplier,
In the process Weir found workers complaining about low pay and
performing
repetitive tasks. They were surrounded by suicide nets, though,
Bill
indicated, incidents of suicide among Foxconn workers were lower than
elsewhere
in
Though Weir admits that "by our standards, this is real
soul-crushing work," nothing Bill found rose to the level of that which
prompted the investigation. And, at the close of the report,
Weir's
disclaimers to the effect that his network's (ABC) parent company (The WALT DISNEY Company)'s
CEO sits on Apple's Board and that STEVE JOBS'
estate is Disney's largest shareholder were cited to establish that
"When
Apple came calling I said those ties would have no bearing on our
reporting
and, though we saw no egregious [violations], if the Fair Trade
Association does find them we'll report those as well going forward."
Even if it's not sweeps month? And who's going to hold Weir and
ABC to
their word?
WHITNEY HOUSTON'S death sparked erroneous reports
on February 17, 2012 from ALISON
HARMELIN, LINDSEY
DAVIS and countless other rip-and-read reporters that ARETHA
FRANKLIN was Houston's godmother. In reality, DARLENE LOVE was Houston's godmother.'
JIMMY CARTER referred to JOHN CARTER CASH as "JOHN R. CASH" during the 4 p.m.. and 5 p.m. editions of WSMV's February 14, 2012 newscasts.
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Fox 17 Anchor ERIKA SHAFFER appeared to need a grammar when she indicated during the station's January 21, 2012 9 p.m. newscast that "ANNETTE HOARD said her and her staff..."
STORME WARREN left English teachers aghast when he referred to the "First Annual Crested Butte Songwriters Festival" on the January 19, 2012 edition of Headline Country.
STORME WARREN had Headline Country: Year in Review viewers scratching their heads when he suggested, during the December 28, 2011 telecast, regarding plans for TIM McGRAW-KENNY CHESNEY musical collaboration, that fans "Look for a potential duet."
CARLEY GORDON mispronounced THOM SCHYLER's surname as "Schuler" (the correct pronunciation is "Skyler") during the October 16, 2011 edition of WSMV's 6 a.m. newscast. The same evening, ALAN FRIO repeated the error on the 10 p.m. edition of the station's newscast.
BARBARA WALTERS erred during the October 11, 2011 edition of ABC's The View when she referred to her first cousin ARLENE's daughter as Walters' second cousin. NANCY SHEVELL is Barbara's first cousin once-removed.
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ABC News Correspondent JONATHAN KARL erred when he reported during the October 5, 2011 edition of Good Morning America that 867-5309 was "the only hit song ever written about a phone number. Two decades before the TOMMY TUTONE chart-buster, THE MARVELETTES hit with Beechwood 4-5789 (in 1962), while WILSON PICKETT covered The Marvelettes' smash with 634-5789 in 1966. (There have been several other, though less popular, phone number song recordings.)
LARRY FLOWERS, reporting a story for WSMV's September 30, 2011 6:30 p.m. newscast referred to "order of protections." I is believed that Flowers meant "orders of protection."
CHRIS BUNDGAARD told viewers of WKRN-TV's September 29, 2011 6 p.m. newscast that JOHN SEBASTIAN "sang classics like 'Welcome Back, Kotter.' The television show's theme song's actual title was Welcome Back.
A "news" feature on the PISTOL ANNIES was followed by a commercial for the trio's debut CD, Hell on Heels. This was followed by a tease: "Next, country music legend GLEN CAMPBELL's first interview about his struggle with Alzheimer's."
If viewers
thought this mean that Campbell gave the program his first
post-diagnosis (which would not be Alzheimer's Disease anyway, because
unlike dementia, Alzheimer's can only diagnosed via an autopsy), they
thought wrong. That scoop goes to Rolling Stone. as CMT Insider somewhat acknowledged
when, returning from the commercial break, it was announced that
"Rolling Stone give CMT Insider
an exclusive first look at its September 1st issue, featuring an
article on ailing country legend Glen Campbell.
But the magazine's subscribers had already received September 1st issue before CMT's "exclusive first look" that proved to be neither and the content of the article was further rather softened and misrepresented by a reference in the article to Campbell's remembering "being insulted by FRANK SINATRA."
In reality, the reference (on Page 46 of the magazine's September 1, 2011 issue) is to Campbell's being "starstruck" when he played on Ol' Blue Eyes' Strangers in the Night session. Campbell recalls staring "at Sinatra so long [Sinatra] pulled the producer aside to complain... ''Who's the fag down there looking at me?'"
PATRICK DOYLE, the article's author, does not describe the singer as "being insulted." Rather, Doyle says "Campbell cackles" at that memory.
There are several things to be taken into account when addressing CHRISTINE O'DONNELL's walking out during an appearance on the August 17, 2011 edition of CNN's PIERS MORGAN Tonight. The first is that the program generally airs live-to-tape.
In the above-referenced instance, the opening of the telecast previewed what was to follow as Morgan announced that the walkout had occurred and invited viewers to watch how it unfolded.
Recounting what he regarded as O'Donnell's rebuff on the August 18, 2011 edition of the program, Morgan said "What I found extraordinary was her statement today. She gave a few reasons for why she'd done this and the main one seemed to be that I was obsessed with talking about sex. Well, you could see from the clip we just played, I wasn't talking about sex."
Of course, Morgan neglected on that
next-evening telecast to show the exchange with Christine O'Donnell of
the previous evening, occurring prior to the clip Morgan referenced,
during which the CNN program host very clearly tried to engage
O'Donnell in a discussion of homosexuality and masturbation.
.
The August 17, 2011 edition of WSMV-TV's 4:30 p.m. newscast featured reporter JOSH DEVINE 's report on SeeClickFix. Both Devine and the newscast's anchor, ALAN FRIO implied, by directing viewers to the Channel 4 Website, that somehow the station was the source of, and could somehow take credit for, this source of consumer convenience when, in reality, the station was engaging in self-promotion by simply providing a link to the site where viewers could post requests to fix potholes and the like.
As host of
the August 13, 2001 ABC
News special JACQUELINE KENNEDY: Her Words, Her Voice, DIANE SAWYER said that it was "stunning to learn"
of Kennedy's oral history. How could this be? The
existence of these recordings, along with the instructions for the
timing of their posthumous release, has been known since Jackie agreed
to participate in 1964.
Grammar-challenged HOLLY THOMPSON referred to "less and less people"
on the July 21, 2011 edition of Channel 4 News at Noon. Repeating
the error, Thompson incorrectly substituted "less" for "fewer" while
anchoring the August 8, 2011 edition WSMV-TV's Channel 4 News Today.
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NBC's Today
Anchor NATALIE MORALES mispronounced the
name of NATALIE PORTMAN's daughter, ALEPH
on the July 7, 2011 edition
of the program. Fill-in host DAVID
GREGORY, who is Jewish, didn't correct Morales.
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Grammatically-challenged JACKIE MERETSKY referred to "mother-in-laws" on the July 3, 2011 edition of Good Morning America.
Reliable
Sources anchor HOWARD KURTZ was still grasping at
comfortable terms to use when describing the nature of the most
explicit photo of embattled Congressman ANTHONY WEINER to viewers of
Kurtz' June 12, 2011 "live" telecast. Howie finally opted for
referencing full frontal nudity as a view of the Congressman "below the
waist."
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His Royal Highness, the Prince, has
made such statements over the course of several decades- long before
both DeVine's birth and the coining of the phrase "politically correct!"
Morningline host NICK
BERES brought everything but his pom-poms when he interviewed
STEVE
MOORE, interrupting the last 15 minutes of the hour-long
"Open
Phones Thursday" (June 2, 2011) weekly edition to justify receiving
media credentials. (Most controversial organizations are
represented on the program by opposing viewpoints, though Morrningline
always gives the CMA a pass.)
"I know that it's bigger and better than ever before," Beres chirped to
Moore in advance of the gathering that sent hundreds of dehydrated fans
for treatment by paramedics (some fans were even
hospitalized) in 90 degree heat where the price
of bottled water began at $2 a pop before
competition- if not human compassion- made the prices more reasonable.
"We
want to be there."
After Moore gave his unpaid advertisement for the event, Beres said "We
have some fans who want to call in and ask questions."
Only then did Nick give out the phone number, as both he and Steve
tried
to ignore with each slowly passing minute, as they ran out of things to
promote about the event, that now calls were coming in.
After cutting to every available commercial, Beres decided his producer
should rack up the Fan Festival film footage from past years so he
could suddenly end the program, announcing "We're going to a away a
little earlier, so you can see..."
Among those Glor did not mention was DANIEL SCHORR. Schorr's 23-year career at the Tiffany Network, as CBS was then known, began in 1953. Though fired from the network in an act of classic stupidity, Glor should have mentioned Schorr who died in 2010.
The May 29, 2011 edition of CBS'
Sunday Morning
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During The View's May 27, 2011 telecast, SHERRI SHEPHERD asked JANE SEYMOUR if the actress had indeed made comments Seymour was "allege" to have made to CNN ten days earlier. While Seymour used her May 27th exposure shot to apologize for, and to attempt to backtrack from her earlier remarks (made on-camera in response to a question from a major cable network news operation while walking the red carpet during a "live" telecast), mischaracterizing Seymour's words in order to suggest there was a possibility she had not said them was, ironically, the inaccuracy demanding viewers' attention.
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JIM MORET's reporting on the May 25, 2011 segment of Inside Edition was misleading, exaggerated and ultimately much ado about nothing.
Moret teased a segment that would divulge "what MARIA SHRIVER's brother is telling only Inside Edition."
As it turned out, ROBERT SARGENT SHRIVER III wasn't telling Moret anything!
As the tabloid TV show's cameras attempted an outdoors ambush interview, the pedestrian simply smiled as the cameras approached and kept on walking and grinning in response to the questions being fired at him.
Moret admitted as much, summarizing the short segment by noting "We caught up with Maria Shriver's brother, BOBBY who stayed mum about the family drama."
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BARBARA WALTERS apparently had a senior moment during the May 17, 2011 edition of ABC's The View.
Walters, referring to MARIA SHRIVER, indicated "Maria's father has Alzheimer's." (ROBERT SARGENT SHRIVER JR. died January 18, 2011).
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On Page 5A of The TENNESSEAN's April 3, 2011 edition, the following notice to readers appeared: “In Sunday’s Life & Travel section, which was printed in advance, a story about the best album category in the Academy of Country Music Awards misspelled the name of author and music historian ROBERT K. OERMANN. The Tennessean regrets the error.”
An obvious, apparently deliberate, omission in the mea culpa? Disclosure that Oermann is the newspaper's former longtime entertainment reporter!
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WZTV-TV Anchor SCOTT
COUCH told viewers of the March 21, 2011 edition of
the station's 9 p.m. newscast that FERLIN HUSKY's casket was "wheeled
into (church) followed by is 10 children." Husky
was the father of 10 but two of those children predeceased
him.
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BARBARA WALTERS indicated that ELIZABETH TAYLOR was "banished" from the Catholic Church during the March 23, 2011 edition of ABC's The View. In reality, Taylor was a practitioner of Christian Science by birth who, after flirting with Catholicism, decided against conversion after she learned it would require bringing up her children in the Church. Ultimately, Taylor converted to Judaism and, like Jesus, died a Jew.
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Anne Holt referred to CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR as “Christine Amanpour”during the 4 p.m. edition of WKRN's March 18, 2011 newscast.
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Attempting to quote DON HEWITT's four word response as to what makes a good Sixty Minutes feature, CHARLIE ROSE misquoted Hewitt during the March 14, 2011 edition of The Charlie Rose Show. "Go tell a story," was Rose's recollection of Hewitt's famous recommendation: "Tell me a story."****
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WSMV-TV's JENNIFER JOHNSON told viewers during the station's February 23, 2011 noon newscast that "LINDSAY LOHAN will be back in court today.” (Her case having been heard, Lohan left the courthouse nearly an hour before the Channel 4 news report.)
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OPRAH WINFREY referred to "maid of honors" on the February 11, 2011 edition of Oprah.
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“It’s a fiction novel.” So said TOM RANDLES about an author's work on the February 3, 2011 edition of WSMV-TV's noon newscast.
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Let's have nothing further to say about KATIE COURIC's observation on the February 2, 2011 edition of the CBS Evening News that “The roots of the uprising trace back farther than that.”
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TOM RANDLES reported during WSMV-TV's January 17, 2011 noon newscast that JOHN EDWARDS mistress had been in hiding "along with ANDREW YOUNG." (Edwards' team never "hid" Young.)
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On the January 17, 2011 edition of ABC's World News, DIANE SAWYER repeated a common mistake by referring to "Ron Regan, Jr." an erroneous identification of she made on the same network newscast three days earlier. BILL O'REILLY made the same error on the January 17, 2011 edition of The O'Reilly Factor. (RONALD PRESCOTT REAGAN, the son of RONALD WILSON REAGAN, is technically not a "junior.")
During the January 14, 2011 edition of Channel 4 News at Noon, WSMV-TV's JENNIFER JOHNSON referred to the "beautification" of Pope JOHN PAUL II. Johnson is apparently unfamiliar with the declaration of beatification.
Host HOWARD KURTZ remarked on the January 9, 2011 edition of Reliable Sources that CNN, Fox News and NPR got it wrong when they initially reported that Representative GABRIELLE GIFFORDS had been assassinated. Kurtz should have added, to what he implied was a complete list of news organizations that didn't check their facts before jumping to the same erroneous conclusion, abcnews.com. And how was it that ethics-challenged JOE KLEIN was chosen to appear on the same edition of the program to comment on the ethics of news organizations' reporting?
Reporting on unwed mother-to-be Actress NATALIE PORTMAN's pregnancy (a contradiction of the Orthodox Judaism in which Portman professes to believe) on the December 28, 2010 edition of NBC's Today, NATALIE MORALES commented "It has been a good year for Natalie.... Congratulations to her!" ANN CURRY chimed in "That is so great!"
MARTIN FLETCHER December 25, 2010 NBC NIGHTLY NEWS report on QUEEN ELIZABETH referred to Her Majesty as "The 84-year-old monarch, who, in the next few days will become a great grandmother.” (By which grandchild? Fletcher didn't say, but if he had he would have said PETER PHILLIPS, 11th in line to the throne, who, along with his Canadian-born wife, AUTUMN, are the expectant parents.)
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Following an interview with JOE BIDEN on the December 19, 2010 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, host DAVID GREGORY wished the vice-president a "Merry Christmas." In response, Biden wished Gregory, who is Jewish, the same.
During the December 17, 2010 edition of CNN's Parker & Spitzer, ELIOT SPITZER, musing about the KENNEDYs, rhetorically asked viewers "Remember when TEDDY and the rest of the clan so memorably endorsed OBAMA as the inheritor to their legacy?" While it is true that Ted, CAROLINE and PATRICK endorsed the President, KATHLEEN KENNEDY TOWNSEND, KERRY and ROBERT KENNEDY JR. endorsed HILLARY CLINTON.
Previewing the station's late night newscast, TOM RANDLES preferred to tease viewers of WSMV-TV's December 13, 2010 6:30 p.m. newscast (rather than inform them) when he proclaimed "Walgreen's is hacked. Some of your information may be at risk. Details at 10."
During a report on the November 8, 2010 edition of WSMV-TV's 6 p.m. newscast JEREMY FINLEY posed the question "Do You think the government is taking this serious enough?" Seriously!
Fox 17 News proudly proclaimed, during the station's October 16, 2010
edition of its 9 p.;m. newscast, its "breaking news" on a
Clarksville, Tennessee murder and related Hopkinsville, Kentucky
kidnapping and suicide as being "First on Fox. In reality, WKDZ Radio got the story first;
its report posted earlier that same afternoon (at 4:51 p.m.).
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Kudos to Nashville's WTVF-TV Channel 5 for explaining, on the October 15, 2010 edition of its 4 p.m. newscast, the legalese language of a proposed hunting and fishing amendment to the state of Tennessee's Constitution.
****
During the October 15, 2010 edition of Channel 4 News at 5 p..m., TOM RANDLES referred to NAOMI and WYNONNA the "Judd Sisters." Co-anchor DEMETRIA KALODIMOS (formerly the station's entertainment reporter did not correct him).
When RICK SPRINGFIELD appeared on the
October 13, 2010 edition of
The
View, Springfield stated that MEL GIBSON was born in New Jersey.
The statement was never corrected. Gibson was born
in Peekskill, New York.
JOY BEHAR has long maintained that
she is ten years younger than is generally reported. Based on
program preview information Comcast
provided to its subscribers prior to the October 7, 2010 telecast of The View, Behar’s
turned 68 on that day. Joy's cohosts presented the
comedienne with a cake during the show. Does the fact that
the cake was decorated with only five candles (a candle for each decade
of life?), does this mean Joy is really 58? birthday (Comcast
info) celebrated on The View October 7, 2010 but cake only had 5
candles and
she’s really 58?
****
The October 7, 2010 edition of WSMV-TV's Channel 4 News at 5 p.m. featured DENNIS FERRIER's report on Southern Baptist Seminary President ALBERT MOHLER's insistence that the practice of yoga is anti-Christian and reaction from a spokesperson for Nashville's YMCA exercise program. (The "Y"'s exercise program includes yoga class). "In case you didn't know," Ferrier told the TV news audience, "the "Y' is a Christian-based group.”
With YMCA being an acronym for Young Men's Christian Association, why would a viewer think otherwise?
Reporting a
segment (prepared for an earlier telecast of the CBS Evening News) airing on the
October 3, 2010 edition of CBS'
Sunday Morning
During the September 27, 2010 edition
of The
View, WHOOPI GOLDBERG referred
to Facebook founder MARK ZUCKERBERG as
"Mort Zuckerberg."
****
Since Boyd wasn' t even born in 1960, Paul can't be expressing his own (apparently unsourced) opinion. So what does Paul know that historians don't?
In reality, DON HEWITT echoed the view of the majority of those who heard the debate "live" on radio. Hewitt believed that RICHARD NIXON won the debate. (The relatively few who disagreed viewed the debate on television-where style trumped substance- or, like WILLIAM H. LAWRENCE who covered the debate for the Chicago Sun-Times, thought the mental gymnastics ended in a draw.)
"Stable" simply means that the vital signs have been
stabilized and that the patient's condition is no better
and no worse. But no better or no worse than what?
If the extent of an initial injury or illness has
not been fully disclosed and the prognosis (and the patient's progress
in relation to that prognosis) is unknown, then '"stable" is a
meaningless term indicative of nothing more than pr spin.
Writing in the September 19, 2010 edition of The Tennessean, Peter Cooper, referred to KRIS KRISTOFFERSON's composition and recording of Why Me? as "Why Me, Lord?" The error in the print edition could have been avoided if my correction to the blog edition- four days earlier- had been noted.
And, why, by the way, is an article posted on line five days before it makes the newspaper which claims credit?
The "In Memoriam" segment of the September 19, 2010 edition of This Week failed to include one of the notable celebrity passing of the week: that of JAMES BACON a day earlier. (If the segment is prerecorded, it should not be!)
