Boston Herald Should Name Its SpyGate Source

On Wednesday, the Boston Herald apologized for a Feb. 2 story by John Tomase that reported the New England Patriots surreptitiously videotaped the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough practice before Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002.

While the Boston Herald based its Feb. 2, 2008, report on sources that it believed to be credible, we now know that this report was false, and that no tape of the walkthrough ever existed.

Prior to the publication of its Feb. 2, 2008, article, the Boston Herald neither possessed nor viewed a tape of the Rams’ walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI, nor did we speak to anyone who had. We should not have published the allegation in the absence of firmer verification.

For the story, Tomase took the word of "a source close to the team during the 2001 season." In today's Herald, Tomase explains how he got the story wrong, but he leaves out the only real detail that matters -- the name of the person who passed along bogus information.

There has been a clamoring for me to identify the sources used in my story. This I cannot do. When a reporter promises anonymity, he can't break that promise simply because he comes under fire. I gave my word, and the day I break that word is the day sources stop talking to me.

Another word on sources: The story mentioned only a single, unnamed source because in the end, while I had multiple sources relating similar allegations, I relied on one more than the others.

I've never understood why journalists hide the names of sources who use the shield of anonymity to spread falsehoods. The agreement between a reporter and an unnamed source, like that of a criminal plaintiff accepting a plea deal to testify in court, should be conditioned on the information being truthful. A source who lies should know that it might blow up in his face. Tomase and the Herald are getting murdilated over running a fake story on the eve of the Patriots' defeat in the Super Bowl. The source remains on the loose.

Reporters have grown far too addicted to the access granted by sources who won't comment for attribution. Instead of digging around from the outside, they act as stenographers to well-connected people with inside information.

In the early '90s, I was an editor at StarText, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's online newspaper. As I prepared stories for publication, I could see the "CQ notes," memos between editors and reporters that were embedded in the articles and removed before publication.

These notes sometimes revealed the identity of unnamed sources in our coverage of the Dallas Cowboys.

More than 15 years have passed, so I can probably reveal this without getting myself into trouble: The Star-Telegram's unnamed source "close to the organization" was owner Jerry Jones. The Dallas Morning News' unnamed source, according to our reporters, was head coach Jimmy Johnson. The two leading figures on the team were waging a furious battle in the press, using the cover of anonymity and pliant newspapers to keep from having to answer for their words.

But if I've said too much here, just tell people you got this information from a source close to the Star-Telegram.

Sports · Journalism · 2008/05/16 · 9 COMMENTS · Link

Alison La Placa Threatens Television Death Pool

For the last nine years, Mike Burger has run an online contest to predict the shows that will be cancelled during the TV season. He named it the Alison La Placa Open Television Death Pool, honoring the actress who's known as a sitcom killer for being a regular cast member on so many short-lived comedies: Suzanne Pleshette Is Maggie Briggs, Duet, Open House, Stat, The Jackie Thomas Show and Tom.

I entered this year's La Placa and have proven to be one of its worst players, predicting these cancellations:

• Samantha Who (ABC)
• Cavemen (ABC)
• Moonlight (CBS)
• Viva Laughlin (CBS)
• Scrubs (NBC)
• Medium (NBC)
• Back to You (FOX)
• Chuck (NBC)
• 'Til Death (FOX)
• According to Jim (ABC)

Only three of those shows have gotten the axe: Cavemen, Moonlight and Viva Laughlin. Cheers writer Rob Long is in first place, failing only to anticipate the inexplicable survival of According to Jim.

Last month, the contest's name became the Cease and Desist Television Pool after Burger was contacted by La Placa's attorney. "Seems either the previous honoree, or more importantly her lawyer, decided I was harming her, ahem, career," Burger announced. I would've thought by now that La Placa was impervious to harm -- after all, this is an actress whose career has survived her decision to star in two different Tom Arnold sitcoms.

The contest is now known as the Ted Marshall Open Television Death Pool. The new name's a fake in an attempt to avoid litigation, as Burger explains on his blog, but my guess is that he's honoring two other legendary show killers, Ted McGinley and Paula Marshall.

Television · 2008/05/15 · 5 COMMENTS · Link

Burma Government Didn't Warn of Killer Cyclone

Jeff Masters, a meteorologist with the web site Weather Underground, has uncovered an amazing story related to the cyclone that killed thousands in Burma: The government buried a warning of the impending storm on page 15 of a state-run newspaper.

Many of you have expressed amazement that so many could die from a tropical cyclone in this day and age of satellites and modern communications. Why did it happen? I believe there are two main reasons: the historical lack of tropical cyclones that have hit Burma's Irrawaddy delta, and the unwillingness of Myanmar's leaders to provide adequate warnings for fear of jeopardizing their May 10 referendum to consolidate their power.

Masters has a scanned copy of the newspaper page, which rates the storm warning's news value below "Greece, Russia Stress Closer Cooperation" but ahead of the TV listings (4:45 p.m.: Dance of National Races).

Irrawaddy.Org, a news site that covers Burma from Thailand, provided more details on the downplayed warning:

Appearances on Burma's state television by the country's director general of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, Tun Lwin, always attract a large following.

Viewers like his style and informative approach to weather reporting. But now those same viewers are asking: "Why did he fail to warn us of the approach of Cyclone Nargis?"

According to well-informed sources close to his department, Burma's leading meteorologist passed those warnings on to the government in Naypyidaw, together with information about the cyclone's strength, expected course, and timing.

Tun Lwin reportedly suggested the warning should be carried by state media, but sources said he was told by his bosses in the capital: "Don't create public panic ahead of the referendum."

Weather · 2008/05/14 · 2 COMMENTS · Link

Forget the Kennedy Memorial

Directly behind the monument is a 12-story building that houses the county records office on the lower floors. The upper floors, beginning with the 6th floor, house part of the county jail complex. I was locked up on the 7th floor of that building and stared down at the monument for 3 months a few years ago.

It is without a doubt the ugliest structure ever dedicated to a person living or dead.

Politics · 2008/05/13 · Comment · Link

Breaking News: Kidnapped Hot Dog Man Found

Because I read Roadside America's blog on cheesy Americana tourist attractions, I was among the first to get the news that Virginia's kidnapped Hot Dog Man has been found:

Hot Dog Man is a popular, if relatively recent, mass-produced roadside statue: a six-foot-tall, bun-wrapped wiener, licking his lips in anticipation as he pours ketchup on his own head. The saucy sausage has been reported from New Jersey to Washington. And last month, a Hot Dog Man in Earlysville, Virginia, made the news when it was kidnapped on the night of April 9.

Now a story out of the Lynchburg News and Advance reports that “Harry the Hot Dog” has been found — buried in the woods next to a local trailer park. Both of his arms, including the one hoisting the ketchup, were broken off and are missing, but his owner has vowed to rebuild him. The police reportedly dug Harry out of his shallow grave with their bare hands after receiving an anonymous tip.

I can't find it this morning, but there's a site devoted to animals in ads who want to be eaten. Hot Dog Man's further removed from his origins, but it's still disturbing to see him apply ketchup with such relish.

Food · 2008/05/09 · 2 COMMENTS · Link

Hillary Clinton: Whites Like Me Better

There's a nice dustup on the Drudge Retort this morning over Hillary Clinton's explicitly racial justification for her continued candidacy:

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," Hillary Clinton said in an interview with USA Today. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me. There's a pattern emerging here."

The argument that Democrats should nominate the candidate who does best with [insert race here] is not only politically disastrous for the party, it's offensive.

Barack Obama and his surrogates could have argued at any time that his candidacy is more viable because he's supported by black voters, historically one of the most solidly Democratic blocs. If he did so, he'd be making his campaign about race, and he's shown thus far the wisdom to avoid that.

The fact that Clinton lacks this wisdom, and is playing the race card in a moment of desperation in the hopes she can divide and conquer, strikes me as a pretty strong reason she doesn't deserve the nomination.

I can't think of a Democratic candidate for president who has fallen so far in my esteem during the course of a campaign. Last fall, I was close to supporting Clinton because of her vast public policy knowledge and her tenacity. I knew she'd fight hard for the Democratic agenda and would be a far more formidable foe for the Republicans than they realized. Obama, though inspirational, seemed like a babe in the woods. I wanted to see the inauguration of the first female president 78 years after suffrage.

But she's run a terrible, cynical and divisive race for president.

Politics · 2008/05/08 · 6 COMMENTS · Link

No Temporary Checks, No Peace

I had a weird thing happen at my bank this week: I ran out of checks because I didn't reorder them in time, but when I needed temporary checks so I could pay some bills, my request was refused. The bank, which has locations across several Southern states, doesn't give its customers temporary checks.

My first impulse is to quit the bank over this hassle. There's a bank on every corner these days, and the services they offer are utterly interchangeable. To get my bills paid, I ended up buying the check-printing software VersaCheck. Printing your own checks costs more up front, but it feels like you are making an end-run around The Man.

Before I switch banks, I'd like to figure out the rationale for giving temporary checks to new account holders while denying them to long-time customers. A web search on the subject of wrongful temp check denial turned up bupkiss.

Business · 2008/05/08 · 5 COMMENTS · Link

Read More Entries