Post story on relatives of victims in Ray Lewis obstruction of justice case

tapintoamerica · Jan 26, 2013

Or perhaps you can call it the Ray Lewis Murder Trial if you prefer. Whatever.
To me, this story violates a major tenet of journalism: The author makes the news. And he does it by suggesting/urging/encouraging relatives of the victims in the case to drop by the cemetery. And, by the way, there's a photographer waiting. The other issue is that the story fails to advance the police narrative or any other facts in the crime. If you've got new evidence, great. Let's have it.

I'm ambivalent about Lewis, I'm wondering what others think.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/ray-lewiss-ties-to-atlanta-murders-now-a-footnote--except-among-victims-family/2013/01/24/3855a4de-664a-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html

Captain Obvious · Jan 26, 2013

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/94426/

Versatile · Jan 26, 2013

Two weeks ago: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/01/10/ray-lewis-baltimore-ravens-atlanta-murder-2000/1566198/

Drip · Jan 26, 2013

tapintoamerica said:

Or perhaps you can call it the Ray Lewis Murder Trial if you prefer. Whatever.
To me, this story violates a major tenet of journalism: The author makes the news. And he does it by suggesting/urging/encouraging relatives of the victims in the case to drop by the cemetery. And, by the way, there's a photographer waiting. The other issue is that the story fails to advance the police narrative or any other facts in the crime. If you've got new evidence, great. Let's have it.

I'm ambivalent about Lewis, I'm wondering what others think.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/ray-lewiss-ties-to-atlanta-murders-now-a-footnote--except-among-victims-family/2013/01/24/3855a4de-664a-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html
Click to expand...

I think your impressions of the story are right on target. The reporter putting himself in the story cheapens it, in my opinion.

RonClements · Jan 26, 2013

I cannot stand articles that quote somebody with "says" instead of "said." If it was said, and it's a one-time comment, you use said. If it's something the person is known to say often, you use says. It's that simple. Do not write in present tense. We're not reading it as you write it and we weren't there when you did the interview. You wrote it, we read it later, it's past tense, so using said is the grammatically correct choice.
It's a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.

Drip · Jan 26, 2013

RonClements said:

I cannot stand articles that quote somebody with "says" instead of "said." If it was said, and it's a one-time comment, you use said. If it's something the person is known to say often, you use says. It's that simple. Do not write in present tense. We're not reading it as you write it and we weren't there when you did the interview. You wrote it, we read it later, it's past tense, so using said is the grammatically correct choice.
It's a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.
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Duly and dually noted.

Riptide · Jan 26, 2013

RonClements said:

I cannot stand articles that quote somebody with "says" instead of "said." If it was said, and it's a one-time comment, you use said. If it's something the person is known to say often, you use says. It's that simple. Do not write in present tense. We're not reading it as you write it and we weren't there when you did the interview. You wrote it, we read it later, it's past tense, so using said is the grammatically correct choice.
It's a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.
Click to expand...

Yeah, well, sez you.

Sez me: It's open to interpretation on feature stories.

gravehunter · Jan 26, 2013

RonClements said:

I cannot stand articles that quote somebody with "says" instead of "said." If it was said, and it's a one-time comment, you use said. If it's something the person is known to say often, you use says. It's that simple. Do not write in present tense. We're not reading it as you write it and we weren't there when you did the interview. You wrote it, we read it later, it's past tense, so using said is the grammatically correct choice.
It's a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.
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I agree. While it can be used on some feature stories, I think you really have to pick your spots. In about 90 percent of the feature stories that I edit, I change it to said. I don't think 'says' worked on this story.

Versatile · Jan 27, 2013

RonClements said:

I cannot stand articles that quote somebody with "says" instead of "said." If it was said, and it's a one-time comment, you use said. If it's something the person is known to say often, you use says. It's that simple. Do not write in present tense. We're not reading it as you write it and we weren't there when you did the interview. You wrote it, we read it later, it's past tense, so using said is the grammatically correct choice.
It's a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.
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This is your takeaway from that story?

Care Bear · Jan 27, 2013

Versatile said:

RonClements said:

I cannot stand articles that quote somebody with "says" instead of "said." If it was said, and it's a one-time comment, you use said. If it's something the person is known to say often, you use says. It's that simple. Do not write in present tense. We're not reading it as you write it and we weren't there when you did the interview. You wrote it, we read it later, it's past tense, so using said is the grammatically correct choice.
It's a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.
Click to expand...

This is your takeaway from that story?
Click to expand...

Agree with Verse, but I also thought he wrote in present tense for a reason.

Drip · Jan 27, 2013

Care Bear said:

Versatile said:

RonClements said:

I cannot stand articles that quote somebody with "says" instead of "said." If it was said, and it's a one-time comment, you use said. If it's something the person is known to say often, you use says. It's that simple. Do not write in present tense. We're not reading it as you write it and we weren't there when you did the interview. You wrote it, we read it later, it's past tense, so using said is the grammatically correct choice.
It's a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.
Click to expand...

This is your takeaway from that story?
Click to expand...

Agree with Verse, but I also thought he wrote in present tense for a reason.
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And that reason is?

JackReacher · Jan 28, 2013

http://deadspin.com/5979544/how-two-newspapers-wound-up-staging-the-same-sob-story-about-the-ray-lewis-murder-case#13594043822292&{"type":"iframeUpdated","height":1633}

Ugh

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Post story on relatives of victims in Ray Lewis obstruction of justice case

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