Great article on what NOT to do as a journalist/copy editor, health update

I remember seeing this when I worked at the Reading Eagle in 1997, and this was passed around to newspaper employees and J-school students across the country as a cautionary tale. It concerns putting "joke" text or content in the story, with the intent of replacing it later with real copy. The difference with this was that some obscene, libelous information made it to print and was distributed throughout the small, conservative community of Gallatin, Tenn.

Many of us have put in joke headlines or copy before (I personally am not commenting), but this shows what could happen. The paper had to pay $950,000 to the young man who was libeled. The reporter never worked in journalism again, and the editor was suspended for three days.

Here is a great, detailed account of the parties involved, what happened in the newsroom that night, and the fallout from the incident. (language may be NSFW).


Health update: All good! It has been 5 months since my DX. The lump on my head has completely drained and is almost healed. Also, I am still fortunate to be walking, talking and volunteering with our church family.

Also, if anyone is interested in getting into a survivor pool (where you pick a winning team to move on, and the last one standing wins), go to this site. Entry fee is $5.