I Wish I Could’ve Been There

Even after making four major corrections, Frank Girardot still has the most incoherent blog post I’ve ever linked to.

Can anyone make sense of this sentence? "I like him because he’s admitted anonymous source and level-headed moderator, especially when the conspiracy kooks come out."

I’m only publishing this post by Frank because it mentions Mickey Kaus praising my blog.

This program occurred Wednesday night, April 23, 2008.

Here we go:

Last night I attended a meeting of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
The group put together a distinguished panel of experts to discuss the new media, blogging and ethics.

On the panel were:
Attorney Terry Francke, of CalAware.
Writer Mickey Kaus, Kausfiles at Slate.com
Attorney Jack Lerner, a USC expert in intellectual property and technology law
Kevin Roderick, Pulitzer Prize winner and publisher of LA Observed.
**Roderick modestly points out he was editor on two undertakings that won the LA Times news staff Pulitzer Prizes.

There was heavyweight discussion on several issues. Francke suggested Thomas Jefferson would have been a top blogger, if blogs were around back in the 18th and 19th Centruies.
Kaus suggested SPJ’s ethics rules don’t necessarily apply in the digital age.
Lerner discussed recent case law, including the Apple vs Bloggers case.
Roderick talked about his blog, and how it got off the ground as a conservative political destination of choice when he leaked an LA Times editor’s memo on abortion.
Joel Bellman, former Her-Ex opinion page editor, who is now Zev Yaroslavsky’s press deputy, MC’d the deal. I like him because he’s admitted anonymous source and level-headed moderator, especially when the conspiracy kooks come out. (And they did)
***Bellman points out I promoted him above his pay grade at the Examiner.

"You inadvertently promoted me at the Her-Ex. I was an editorial writer and rotating op-ed columnist – I was NOT the opinion-age editor (that distinction belonged to Gary Spiecker, an excellent fellow and longstanding assistant editor of the LA Times Sunday Opinion section.)"

My big question of the night for the panel was what’s your home page? and what web sites do you regularly visit.

Got some interesting responses:
The Arts and Letter Blog is apparently well respected.
The Drudgereport got some notice, especially from Kaus who cited its more even-handed approach in recent years.
NYTimes.com also received kudos, especially from Bellman, who said it’s the best newspaper site out there.
"Loads fast," he said.

Roderick also noted the healthy blog exchange taking place in the San Gabriel Valley. Noting that there are several "political blogs" and anonymous blogs getting a lot of attention.
* Looking at my notebook There were a couple of links I forgot.
* Kaus mentioned he was a fan of lukeford.net An LA area blog.
* Roderick mentioned the FOX 11 LA blogs, noting they are "mostly insipid."

Frank Girardot emails:

Luke, 

Admittedly there were corrections in the post you cite today. There are actually five (not four). None are "major" they are more like clarifications.

Let me clarify for you.

1) The arts and letters blog first cited was actually mentioned by Terry Francke. Kevin Roderick thought Francke was talking about a second blog. During the meeting, Roderick couldn’t remember the name or url of the blog he liked.

2) Kevin was introduced as a Pulitzer Prize winner. He softened the introduction in his remarks. I should have taken his cue.

3) My promotion of Bellman was due to fuzzy memory. I worked with him at the Her-Ex. I was a lowly copy boy and thought he was the editorial pages boss. I was wrong.

4) The quote you cite is missing a single word "an" as in "an admitted anonymous source" Sorry you didn’t pick up on that.

If anything the post is an emptying of my notebook – a stream of consciousness ramble not unlike HST without the profanity or drug references. If there is an actual reporting error other than the Bellman reference, no one has pointed it out. 

Is there anything wrong with correcting a post as you go? Especially if the end result is still the same? What difference does it make?

I don’t believe the post is any more incoherent than the live chat you had going yesterday.

As for the reference to your blog, you probably know it came from Mickey Kaus, who commended you for pointing out the whole Villaraigosa without a wedding ring incidents. To that I say kudos, nice reporting Luke.