Verification doesn’t threaten narrative journalism

Narrative journalism will survive the Manti Te’o hoax. In fact, the sports stories that spouted and perpetuated the lies of the hoax were not narrative journalism. They were shallow journalism.

Sports Illustrated’s Tim Layden imagines that the backlash against sportswriters who failed to check out things they were told about Te’o’s fake girlfriend may “lead to fewer narrative stories, period, and that would not be such a great thing.”

The notion that coverage of the fake girlfriend’s death was narrative journalism is as bogus as her car crash, her leukemia, her Stanford enrollment or her death.

Here are a couple of key passages from Layden’s lament (Layden responded to my post on Twitter; I have embedded our Twitter exchange later in this post):

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How does your newspaper handle obituaries and death notices?

In the discussion of journalists’ failures in the Manti Te’o girlfriend hoax, I have suggested that journalists should have looked for an obituary of the purported girlfriend. And that has raised some questions about how obituaries and death notices are handled by newspapers today.

A comment by Rob Pegoraro on my post earlier today and tweets by Maureen Boyle have raised questions about whether everyone has an obituary (responding to Rob, I acknowledge that it probably happens, but say that at least a death notice usually gets published).

@stevebuttry @maghielse On obit: fewer obits now with outlets charging. Some families don’t post obits online thru funeral home either.

— Maureen Boyle (@MaureenEBoyle1) January 17, 2013

@stevebuttry @maghielse Death notices can cost hundreds of $. Papers charge by line/word. Most free obits are gone.

— Maureen Boyle (@MaureenEBoyle1) January 17, 2013

@stevebuttry @maghielse Not anymore at most papers in New England. Stopped yrs. back. Revenue source.

— Maureen Boyle (@MaureenEBoyle1) January 17, 2013

@maureeneboyle1 @stevebuttry @maghielse @justingraeber Obits aren’t a community service anymore:obit-mag.com/articles/a-dea…

— Maureen Boyle (@MaureenEBoyle1) January 17, 2013

(The link above is to a piece by the late Jim Naughton, A Death Notice for Obituaries, written in 2010, which prompted a response from me.)

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Linking and checklists could have prevented journalists from Manti Te’o ‘girlfriend’ hoax embarrassment

Last year I blogged about four reasons linking is good journalism. Make it five.

Journalists who practice thorough linking to provide context and attribution for their stories (two of the four reasons I cited) would have learned pretty quickly that crucial facts about Manti Te’o‘s purported girlfriend couldn’t be verified.

Or journalists following Craig Silverman‘s advice on using an accuracy checklist (or using my checklist, adapted from Craig’s) would have found lots of red flags and no verification. (I’ll concentrate on linking here, but I see points on both of our checklists that might have helped a journalist see that something was wrong.)

If you care about accuracy in journalism and if you want to see an excellent example of journalism (exposing several shameful examples of journalism), read the Deadspin investigation of the Notre Dame football star’s fictitious girlfriend.

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