Romenesko adds up the stream of comments on the errant Tupac Shakur story: 25 pages (now 30 and counting, because they limit each to ten entries.)

First seven provide a good sample:

1. Everyone makes mistakes. I have read many of Chuck Phillip's pieces and they are good pieces to read. As an avid LA Times reader, I do not find this to be of great deal, but be careful in your future projects Chuck. Great reporting from all LA Times staff, keep it up!

2. It's the LA TIMES! Did you expect anything other than crap reporting? Look, this could easily have gotten Combs killed, but does the LA TIMES care? Are you kidding me---it's THE LA TIMES!

3. The LAT's use of anonymous sources has always been atrocious. Puffy has the means to fight back. Other people are met with arrogance when they try to complain about being smeared by ghosts. I don't care if the reporter has won the Nobel Peace Prize. He and his editor, and I use the title loosely, should be fired today.

4. Amazing how much the Wire nailed the current state of affairs at the LA Times.

5. Has journalistic integrity at major metropolitan dailies suffered so much that the author and editor were not compelled (Pulitzer or not) to fall on their swords immediately for this gaffe? An apology isn't enough at this point to make the Times not seem like a third-rate rag at this point. Perhaps after all of the lawsuits and settlements the Times will endure as the blowback from this article, it will be staffed merely by bloggers who won't need to be accountable for veracity before putting their articles on line. What a waste.

6. Chuck Phillips' story is yet another in a succession of all-too-many low points in recent years for the once well-respected newspaper that I grew up with, and have continued to read for nearly fifty years. Is it any surprise that this is what happens when the shareholder-driven management forces out a series of experienced editors (i.e. the ones who realize all of the recent layoffs are debilitatiting if not suicidal to the journalistic well-being of the newsroom), and finally cannot hire anyone with the necessary credentials willing to take this now crappy job for fear of having to implement yet another round of downsizing.

7. I cannot express my disgust at discovering how you got your fingers burned in another rehashing of a decade-old shooting. That's what you get for giving us distractions instead of real news to read. Now let's see what Chuck Phillips can do ripping the truth about who kidnapped Aimee Semple McPherson from Venice Beach, and who really murdered Elizabeth Short in the Black Dahlia case.

Previously on LA Observed:
Philips and editor apologize for Shakur story
Smoking Gun says LAT got hoaxed

© 2003-2009   •  About LA Observed  •  Email the editor
LA Biz Observed
7:18 AM Sun | More than 1,000 Toyota and Lexus owners have reported sudden acceleration problems over the last decade, resulting in 19 deaths.
Native Intelligence
Jenny Price | Advice for Greenies in a Complicated World
TJ Sullivan | Steve Jones, the self-proclaimed Sire of Wilshire (a nod to the physical address of his former home at Indie 103.1 FM), is back on the air!
Erika Schickel | She gaped at me like I was living history -- Miss Jane Pittman come to put her withered lips to the "Young Only" fountain straw of ageism.
Bill Boyarsky
As newspapers and television pull back from investigative reporting, foundations and other organizations are beginning to fill the void. One of the most interesting is Accountable California, a project of Local 721 of the Service Employees International Union.
Jenny Burman
Thinking more about buying less.
Here in Malibu
This drains to the ocean.
Sponsors
Jewish Journal logo
The California Wellness Foundation
Playa Vista ad
Blogads

Blogads Los Angeles network

Get RSS Feeds
of LA Observed
LA Observed publishes several Real Simple Syndication feeds for easy scanning of headlines. If you wish to subscribe to a feed, most popular RSS readers will do it for you. You can also enter the web address from the XML button below or click on a specific feed. For more help with RSS, try here or here.




Add to Google