War of Words: NYT v. WSJ in Copy-Editing

Journal Wins by Early-Round K.O.

Media Bistro ran a story today about a spat between The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal over The Journal running a story and not crediting The Times for breaking it.  Bistro Writer, Chris O'Shea calls that and other disputes between the print-journalism behemoths, "meaningless."  I'm not too sure about that.  Scoops still mean something to the folks digging them up, as well they should.  Maybe someone should start looking at the big boys' copy-editing.

It's easy to kick back and pick on The Times for oversights in editing and proofreading as I have recently.  I'm not the one battling high-pressure deadlines every day.  I recently ran into a copy of The Journal, though, and while reading about a half-dozen or more articles in it, I did not come across any

A Few Scenes From the San Francisco Jazz Fest

Here are some snippets from the 2011 San Francisco Jazz Fest.  If you care to check them out, you might want to turn the audio down first and then turn it up after starting each video, since it came out distorted through my cheap camera.


I hate to say it. SF, but

Burn, Burn, Burn...

The fact that at the time there were a half-dozen bands better than these guys should tell you something about the early to mid 90s ...



Yeah...they know how to belt it out.


Hi, Joey.


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Copy-Editing Problems at the Times?

This from a recent article in the NY Times:

In Britain, reducing carbon dioxide emissions was one of the few policies supported by political parties of both the right and left, which both accepted that climate change was a serious problem and saw clean technology investment as a growth opportunity rather than an onerous obligation.

Guys, guys, guys!!  I've got better things to do.  Break it up into two sentences next time.


...And furthermore, what really disappoints me is that the mistake is very, very similar to the problem we covered last weekend! 


...If Judy Prebish was over there, somebody'd get busted down to society page copy boy! 


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NY Times Paywall? So Far, So Good.

This is a great sign for journalism.  Ideally, the rest of the industry will follow suit in descending order of prestige and size, or everybody just do it all on the same day...

http://www.businessinsider.com/time-for-a-lot-of-people-to-eat-crow-the-new-york-times-paywall-is-working-2011-6#ixzz1Oho6d8NC


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Shaq Attack

Do Your Homework, Bob. (An Open Letter to Bob Frantz)

J. Paul Zoccali


Mr. Frantz:

I enjoyed your lucid essay on the career of recently retired NBA superstar, Shaquille O'Neal.  I agree with you--to a certain point.  Indeed, in the final third of his career, Shaq's bread-and-butter move was backing guys down in the paint until he was nearly under the hoop before dunking or dropping in a baby hook.  And, yes, during that part of his career he got away with

Rhythm Kings

From the Fuhkingruvin Dept.

Eat your heart out, Mr. Watts. (It's really the bass line that makes this so tasty, though.)...

Dr. Jack and a Note on Grammar

Thoughts on The Times

Dr. Jack
Saturday's New York Times included an obituary on Dr. Jack Kevorkian.  A Times obit is the best condensed, easily digestible biography you'll ever read.  It's one of my favorite things about the paper.  I have a single reflection on the hotly contested issue of Kevorkian's work.  Every person over the age of

(Of Course I Did)

From The Skipping Record Dept.   

The headline, the photograph, the predictable narrative of futility, the matter-of-fact brevity.  The level of accuracy with which the various elements of the article compliment each other is uncanny.  The hallmark nondescript style of the photography, with its deceptively understated, slightly

Jim Page, Microbiologist

The quintessential opener for a Zeppelin cover band:



...straight into this one...





"If we could just join hands..."

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