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Canzano "Lost and Found" on Freeman Williams

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by 212areacode, Mar 22, 2008.

  1. henryhenry

    henryhenry Member

    don't agree. the ending was relevent. nice touch on it.
     
  2. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    I really liked the beginning, the middle and the end. Excellent work.

    That is all.
     
  3. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    To our readers:

    Freeman Williams may be a crackhead living in an alley. Or maybe he isn't. But we didn't want to spend another $2,000 on hotels, meals and another plane trip and a week of a columnist's time finding out for sure -- the writer might miss a couple radio shows -- so we'll let you believe whatever you want about Freeman Williams.

    If it works, we will try it with our cops and courts coverage next month.

    Thanks and have a lovely day!

    -- The Oregonian editors
     
  4. imjustagirl

    imjustagirl Active Member

    I disagree completely, Frank. I didn't read it that way at all.
     
  5. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    canzano is his own animal, and you really have to be familiar with him to have a firm grasp of his tone.

    regardless if i agree with a canzano column or not, i rarely walk away from one without having thought about what i just read.

    i just wish the fucker didn't work for PA.
     
  6. awriter

    awriter Active Member

    Totally disagree. If anything, The Oregonian went the extra mile (or, in this case, 1,000) to get Freeman's side. In this era of cutbacks, how many papers would send a writer to LA to get this column, let alone make a second trip on such short notice? Short of staking out Freeman or hiring private investigators, what else should Canzano and the paper have done?
     
  7. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    Not write it. There's no news value to this story. If you are going to make a spectacle of somebody's private life -- for no apparent reason other than to have something interesting to write about -- you can at least get the crucial facts. Remember, Freeman Williams has done nothing newsworthy to warrant being exposed to thousands of people as being, possibly, an alley-dwelling crackhead. It would be different if Freeman Williams had done something recently to draw attention to himself -- an arrest, a publicity-seeking act, a plea for help. The only reason his story -- or rather a fragment of his story -- was being told is because his alma mater qualified for the NCAAs. I think an editor should have said we don't have this story yet, it's unfit to run until we do. I think it's an exploitive piece the way it is.
     
  8. 212areacode

    212areacode Member

    No news value??!!

    Freeman Williams, a former NBA player, is No. 2 all-time among college scorers and he happens to be down and out... his college team (Portland State) qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever two weeks ago... this is absolutely newsworthy, not just in Portland but just about everywhere. FYI, the first time I saw this was a mention in the LA Times that credited The Oregonian's story.

    It's newsworthy. I thought the device that was used really worked, too. Canzano led the reader on the trip to find Freeman intentionally.To each his own, I suppose.

    Normally I'm with you Frank, this time I couldn't disagree with you more.
     
  9. awriter

    awriter Active Member

    No news value? I'm with 212 on this.
    Humor me here, Frank, and pretend you're Canzano's editor and you're about to tell him to get those "crucial facts" after he turned in this column. What suggestions do you have for him?
     
  10. 212areacode

    212areacode Member

    The way I read this was that Canzano went to LA once looking for homeless Freeman who has no known address, DL, etc. and talked with prostitute, neighborhood liquor store owner, guy in the alley who swore that Freeman lived there, etc. Then, Canzano got in touch with Freeman and went back to LA a second time to talk with Freeman, who was claiming none of it was true. Canzano brought me on that trip back with him, and it was a treat.

    I think it would have been irresponsible to write the piece after the first visit, Frank. But after the second visit, and framed within the context of not being sure how far Freeman has fallen, damn, that's some revealing fucking shit.
     
  11. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    i thought it was a damn good read.



    i still wish the guy didn't work for paul allen, though.
     
  12. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    How is it newsworthy? He has not been in the news for 16 years (bit part in White Men Can't Jump), and he has done nothing to be newsworthy since. He is no longer a public figure, and his private life belongs to him, or should. If he is a crackhead living in an alley, clearly he doesn't want people to know about it because he goes to the trouble of trying to deny it. And what is the purpose of revealing his problems, or rather possible problems, other than entertainment?

    I think you are confusing news value with piquing the public's curiousity about the private life of a man who appears to be, at least on some levels, an unwilling participant in the story. This is a polar opposite of, say, Dave Hyde's Jake Scott piece.

    This is the kind of piece that helps give the news media a bad name. Not only is Freeman Williams' life none of our business, but the newspaper can't even nail it down and has to rely on some pretty uncredible sources. There is a line somewhere that separates public's right to know and the exploitation of someone's personal business for the amusement of writer and readers, and I think this one crosses it.
     
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