Horse, or its mouth, might verify facts
Journalism, like many other events in life (childbirth comes to mind), frequently looks much easier than it actually is.
Sometimes those short two-paragraph stories take a dozen phone calls and a half-day of research. Sometimes those longer stories seem to write themselves.
One day last week we had an error in a front page caption misidentifying one of the bronc-riding cowboys at the YMBL Rodeo held in conjunction with the South Texas State Fair.
The photographer was absolutely sure the identification was correct. The cowboy had on a white hat and a red print shirt, and his right hand was taped and gloved. Although the cowboy’s face wasn’t shown in the front-page photo, all those identifying features fit another photo where the cowboy’s face did show.
Problem is, he, and more importantly his grandmother, insisted it wasn’t him.
So, over the photographer’s insistence, we started checking. It took two days and some very dedicated and cooperative YMBL members to get at the truth.
When every participant is wearing jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, a cowboy hat and boots, it’s a bit more complicated.
So, how do you identify a bronc-riding cowboy whose face is covered by a white cowboy hat? By the horse, of course.
The rodeo stock contractor identified the horse as “Doc Holiday,” which verified that the cowboy was Shane Chambliss, not Zach Dishman as the cutline said. Our apologies to Dishman, who got a score on his ride and wasn’t bucked off as was Chambliss who drew a no score.
* * *
Then there’s always the true journalist’s axiom: “Trust, but verify.”
Last Friday we ran an Associated Press story about the death of famed oil well fighter Edward “Coots” Matthews. The story contained a paragraph I would classify as ambiguous, called to my attention by staff writer. In reviewing the story, I found another sentence that was completely wrong.
Feeling absolutely certain of the facts, I still did some research to make sure I was right, and found multiple sources that contained the incorrect information, making it obvious that those sources were the ones used by The Associated Press.
We have so many sharp-eyed, detail-oriented readers, it was a bit shocking that not one of them called me to point out the errors. We chose not to include them in the corrections listing for the day because explaining them would be lengthy and somewhat tedious, but we also felt it was something we wanted to share with our readers. So here goes:
The story said “Coots” Matthews and Asger “Boots” Hansen, oil well firefighters known as Boots & Coots, helped extinguish a flare in Algeria known as the “Devil’s Cigarette Lighter” in 1961. Actually the fire started in early November 1961.
The next sentence of the story points out that, “The geyser (of burning gas) was so great, astronaut John Glenn reported seeing it from space as he passed over the Algerian desert.” Problem is, John Glenn made that historic space orbit in February 1962, meaning the dates don’t agree.
An online video (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/231727/the_devils_cigarette_lighter/) includes clips from the History Channel that cleared up the ambiguity by noting that the fire was so extreme it took approximately six months to extinguish.
The next sentence, however, puts a good journalist on alert again. “After Iraq’s 1991invasion of Kuwait ...” The fact that we have some staff members who were in preschool in 1991 makes this a bit more difficult, but I happen to know that Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990 — the day my daughter was born.
So, researching for verification, I again found information that incorrectly said exactly what the AP story said. In fact, Boots & Coots were involved in extinguishing approximately 700 oil well fires in Kuwait in the spring of 1991, at the conclusion of the United States’ first, very brief, Gulf War.
Journalism is more of an art than a science and sometimes involves truths that change. Meanwhile we do our very best to be as correct as we possibly can on any given day.
* * *
As the delivery of news and other information generously labeled as news continues to evolve, readers have ways to find out what’s going on in their world. Even mainstream media, such as The Enterprise, now include social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as part of the overall news distribution system and a means to connect with readers.
So now, according to a copyrighted London Times story, enters yet another option, Chatroulette. The site allows video conversations between users by way of webcam. Bored with the conversation? Click “next” and have a conversation with another complete stranger.
The concept was created by a 17-year-old Russian teenager named Andrey Ternovskiy, who’s now the center of a bidding war for what purports to be the next big thing in social networking.
Me? I’m a little nervous about anything that’s Russian and involves the word roulette.
Sometimes those short two-paragraph stories take a dozen phone calls and a half-day of research. Sometimes those longer stories seem to write themselves.
One day last week we had an error in a front page caption misidentifying one of the bronc-riding cowboys at the YMBL Rodeo held in conjunction with the South Texas State Fair.
The photographer was absolutely sure the identification was correct. The cowboy had on a white hat and a red print shirt, and his right hand was taped and gloved. Although the cowboy’s face wasn’t shown in the front-page photo, all those identifying features fit another photo where the cowboy’s face did show.
Problem is, he, and more importantly his grandmother, insisted it wasn’t him.
So, over the photographer’s insistence, we started checking. It took two days and some very dedicated and cooperative YMBL members to get at the truth.
When every participant is wearing jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, a cowboy hat and boots, it’s a bit more complicated.
So, how do you identify a bronc-riding cowboy whose face is covered by a white cowboy hat? By the horse, of course.
The rodeo stock contractor identified the horse as “Doc Holiday,” which verified that the cowboy was Shane Chambliss, not Zach Dishman as the cutline said. Our apologies to Dishman, who got a score on his ride and wasn’t bucked off as was Chambliss who drew a no score.
* * *
Then there’s always the true journalist’s axiom: “Trust, but verify.”
Last Friday we ran an Associated Press story about the death of famed oil well fighter Edward “Coots” Matthews. The story contained a paragraph I would classify as ambiguous, called to my attention by staff writer. In reviewing the story, I found another sentence that was completely wrong.
Feeling absolutely certain of the facts, I still did some research to make sure I was right, and found multiple sources that contained the incorrect information, making it obvious that those sources were the ones used by The Associated Press.
We have so many sharp-eyed, detail-oriented readers, it was a bit shocking that not one of them called me to point out the errors. We chose not to include them in the corrections listing for the day because explaining them would be lengthy and somewhat tedious, but we also felt it was something we wanted to share with our readers. So here goes:
The story said “Coots” Matthews and Asger “Boots” Hansen, oil well firefighters known as Boots & Coots, helped extinguish a flare in Algeria known as the “Devil’s Cigarette Lighter” in 1961. Actually the fire started in early November 1961.
The next sentence of the story points out that, “The geyser (of burning gas) was so great, astronaut John Glenn reported seeing it from space as he passed over the Algerian desert.” Problem is, John Glenn made that historic space orbit in February 1962, meaning the dates don’t agree.
An online video (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/231727/the_devils_cigarette_lighter/) includes clips from the History Channel that cleared up the ambiguity by noting that the fire was so extreme it took approximately six months to extinguish.
The next sentence, however, puts a good journalist on alert again. “After Iraq’s 1991invasion of Kuwait ...” The fact that we have some staff members who were in preschool in 1991 makes this a bit more difficult, but I happen to know that Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990 — the day my daughter was born.
So, researching for verification, I again found information that incorrectly said exactly what the AP story said. In fact, Boots & Coots were involved in extinguishing approximately 700 oil well fires in Kuwait in the spring of 1991, at the conclusion of the United States’ first, very brief, Gulf War.
Journalism is more of an art than a science and sometimes involves truths that change. Meanwhile we do our very best to be as correct as we possibly can on any given day.
* * *
As the delivery of news and other information generously labeled as news continues to evolve, readers have ways to find out what’s going on in their world. Even mainstream media, such as The Enterprise, now include social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as part of the overall news distribution system and a means to connect with readers.
So now, according to a copyrighted London Times story, enters yet another option, Chatroulette. The site allows video conversations between users by way of webcam. Bored with the conversation? Click “next” and have a conversation with another complete stranger.
The concept was created by a 17-year-old Russian teenager named Andrey Ternovskiy, who’s now the center of a bidding war for what purports to be the next big thing in social networking.
Me? I’m a little nervous about anything that’s Russian and involves the word roulette.
posted by Sheila Friedeck at 11:02 AM
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