Eubie's notes

Most newspapers do not show sources a story prior to publication. I’ve never heard of papers doing it regularly. It’s almost a cardinal rule of journalism. Apparently it’s less a rule than a guideline.

Willy Stern, who teaches journalism courses at Vanderbilt and Fisk universities, lists six reasons in a column in Nashville Scene why the newspaper routinely show articles before publication. Romenesko mentioned it today.

The Romenesko item was posted late in the day, so it may take a day or two for journalists to react to it. I don’t recall ever showing a story before publication. I’ve read quotes back, I’ve read explanations, I’ve made a lot of calls back to get something clarified, which others have told me they never do either. I did it because I wanted the story to be accurate and fair.

I’ve called people and sources after the paper was printed but before they had received their copy to let them know there was a mistake or some other goof-up. I wanted them to hear it from me first.

Sree Sreenivasan’s latest column on Poynter Online lists good Web sites for tech news and tech tips written by journalists for tech reporters. Most have either an email or RSS feed.

I felt he overlooked Lockergnome’s Technology News. Maybe it was too tech oriented for his column.

I use Google most of the time. But here’s a list of other search engines listings and directories and which are better for different purposes.

World War II aerial reconnaissance photos taken by the Royal Air Force, including pictures of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, are online now. I’m glad to see there are still new “gee whiz” things on the web.

A 47-year-old bank employee in Knoxville sues claiming the Janet Jackson peek caused her and other viewers to “suffer outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury.” Actual damages are not specified and punitive damages “should not exceed the gross revenues of all defendants for the past three years.” Defendants include Viacom, CBS, MTV, Janet and Justin Timberlake. The court filing is on The Smoking Gun, and you’ll see the shot that few actually saw, but many have seen since. The lawsuit was filed as a proposed class action lawsuit.

Update: The lawsuit was withdrawn Monday, KnoxNews.com reports.

For several years the promise of electronic newspapers has always been just ahead. It looks like it’s finally getting closer. Philips is preparing to mass produce a 5-inch flexible display that can be used for newspapers and magazines. You can watch a video demonstation of the display. Tip from Lost Remote.

Poynter: Roy Peter Clark and Tim McGuire explore what’s right and wrong about long and short.

From The Scoop: Harvy Lipman and Grant Williams of the Chronicle of Philanthropy reviewed information from more than 10,000 non-profit tax forms covering 1998 through 2002 to determine that charities reported at least $142 million in debts due to loans made to officers and directors. Private foundations cannot make such loans, but charities can. Some filings contained less than complete information on loan debts: “4,756 groups reported loans to top officials, but failed, as required by the Internal Revenue Service, to say how much the debt totaled.”

On The Chronicle of Philanthropy story page you are offered a pull-down menu to see the groups that made loans to officials by state. But it’s only available to subscribers.

Update: Pacific Business News did a local version of the story and found that in Hawaii such loans are prohibited by state law. This would be a good story for any newspaper.

Video games are a medium unto themselves. They are the main reason TV networks say males 18-35 don’t watch as much TV. From San Francisco Business Times: Electronic Arts is now selling product plugs in its games.

From CNET News: Washington Post misses the $19 annual registration for its domain name, which caused the email system to crash for part of the day.