1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Should Jeff Pearlman have apologized for this?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Double Down, Jan 14, 2008.

  1. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Said it could have been worse -- he could have grown inup Detroit, Birmingham, Flint or Gary.
     
  2. Montezuma's Revenge

    Montezuma's Revenge Active Member

    Sounds like you're a little too jaded. Look, variations of just about every have been done before. If we just said, ``Screw it, that's been done before,'' we'd never put out a paper.
     
  3. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    We've talked about this before, but I'll mention it again: Really good long-form journalism isn't necessarily totally objective. It can be subjective, as long as that subjectivity is supported by facts. I don't know if Pearlman was just trying to describe Holmes' neighborhood and stumbled over the mechanics of that paragraph, or if he summed up the entire town that way, and then regretted it when his sweeping statement was thrown back in his face by those residents who do not have used condoms and broken Budweiser bottles in their yards.

    jgmacg's point about the precision of a description being a writer's best defense made me think of the section of JR Moehringer's profile about Pete Carroll and his description for Los Angeles. Look at the way Moehringer framed his description of a rough neighborhood in LA:

     
  4. Clerk Typist

    Clerk Typist Guest

    Geez, Jim Murray used to do this all the time, albeit more gently.
    As in (paraphrasing), "There's nothing to do in Spokane, Wash., after 10 o'clock. In the morning. But the breakfast was good."
    And, in ripping Cincinnati for an unfinished expressway, "It must have been Kentucky's turn to use the cement mixer."
    Maybe the town should apologize to Pearlman and give him the key to the city. If it hasn't been stolen.
     
  5. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    Little different though with Murray, Clerk. There was a tongue-and-cheek aspect to it. Murray's brilliance was, in part, that he let you in on the joke. You'd laugh even if you were a Spokane resident or a Kentucky native. Unless you had no sense of humor.
     
  6. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Did anyone check to see if Florence has a Mcdonalds?
     
  7. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    I suppose it's encouraging that the condoms were used.

    Not in favor of the apology, if he went there and saw what he saw. Basically, it reframes the whole story as 'well, it's not as bad as I said it was, never mind.'

    Is it my imagination, but are a lot of our Pearlman threads geared around the same 'that's not what I/he/it meant...'?
     
  8. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Having been to Florence *** the man is being kind.
     
  9. If Pearlman's description is accurate, and I have no idea if it is, no apology.
    None. And certainly not under pressure.
    But the "used condoms"? He noticed these? There were enough of them to notice?
     
  10. Chi City 81

    Chi City 81 Guest

    Thanks, Jeff, for coming here and clearing up all points.

    EDIT: Jeff's post has reappeared below this one.
     
  11. jeff.pearlman

    jeff.pearlman Member

    Hmmm ... I sorta figured this might end up here.

    I'm not saying I'm right or wrong, but here's exactly what happened: In response to the Clayton Holmes story I received, oh, 150 or so e-mails. Most were positive, some were negative and about 15 were from Florence natives who thought I was excessively rough on the city. So I went back and re-read the story. I actually don't think I was too hard, but I also can see it's a part of the story that I didn't write especially well. Hence, since it genuinely wasn't my intent to dog all of Florence, I felt comfortable responding with a "It wasn't my intent to rip your entire city—if it came off that way, I apologize." Is that sorta wimpy? I guess it could be seen that way. But I don't think anything's wrong with a writer admitting when he's off. It happens.

    Now here's what truly bothers me: So I send that sort of e-mail to most of the angry Florence people (90% of whom respond with a "Thanks for writing back. No big deal—just wanted to express my displeasure), and the superentendent of schools forwards my e-mail to the local paper. I was friggin' blown away: I take the time to respond, I apologize if you took what I wrote to be a thrashing of your entire city ... and you forward it to the newspaper!? Are you kidding me? (Amazingly, I spoke to the superentendent earlier today. I said, "Why would you take a private e-mail and give it to the local paper?" He said, "Well, once you sent it to me it was no longer private and I could do whatever I wanted to with it." I said, "So, if a parent e-mails you about a student, you can forwatd that to the paper, too?")

    Then, to make matters worse, the guy who writes the story for the Florence Morning News doesn't even call me to check the facts of his piece (some of which were off). It was insane: You write a story about someone ... and you don't even call him? To check facts? To make sure the e-mails were legit? Etc?

    Anyhow, the writer later apologized to me, which was cool. I think he was young and learning and whatever. We all make mistakes ...

    Anyhow, the experience wasn't a fun one. I try to write every person back when they send an e-mail. This time it didn't work out.

    That's the story.
     
  12. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Thanks for stopping by Jeff. I don't think your response was wimpy. I know I've sent similar emails; like you said most of the complainers simply appreciate your reply and apology.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page