Killing kittens?

Romenesko links to a story about a California paper, as a joke, changing "holding a kitten" to "strangling a kitten" in an AP story:

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/02/28/corrections/11_00_232_27_08.txt

Romenesko writes:

The AP piece said an LA councilman "held a kitten at a City Hall news conference" while a pet sterilization ordinance was signed. Two staffers at the North County Times changed "held" to "strangled." Editor Kent Davy tells readers: "We have fired the editor who initiated the unfortunate 'joke.' And we have suspended a second editor who failed to keep the error out of print."

 

Wow. Leave the bad jokes to SportsJournalists.com, people.

 

Obviously, this "joke" wasn't meant to see the light of day.

Just goes to reinforce the old adage: Don't put something on your computer screen you wouldn't want to see in print.

 

Is that really an old adage? Kind of wordy, isn't it?

 

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

 

I read the title and thought, "What does pleasuring yourself have to do with journalism?"

 

Johnny Smith, Jimmy Jones, Some Fucker, Tommy White, Jerry Jackson...

 

Roasted Nuts.

 

I know that is a site favorite.
But, I love this one. On some levels, it is worse than Roasted Nuts. It was in the book, "The Tabloid From Hell." The cops found a decapitated head and discovered it had AIDS. With fears what they were, it led to this gem:

 

isn't an adage old by the nature of its definition? is there such a thing as a new adage?

 

Look before you leap.

 

You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.