The Associated Press called the HDN several times to get the story regarding the animal carcasses and The Collegian editorial, but instead the AP is using a copy of the story from somewhere in Detroit. Am I jealous? Sure maybe a little, but there's honestly quite a little problem in some of the wire service stories...
Read this one for example, from WLAJ Channel 3 News:
A student editor in Hillsdale County has caused an uproar at Hillsdale College. Section Editor John Krudy discovered several dead animals on his front porch Monday, just a few days after an editorial was published criticizing the school's baseball team.
Krudy says the bodies of deer, several large rodents and a black goat were left on the porch of his off-campus home.
Underneath the goat was a copy of the controversial editorial. Krudy has published an apology calling the editorial a mistake and does not plan to press charges.
PROBLEMS?
A.) There is no statement from Krudy about the animals that is out there according to all my sources in Hillsdale, instead the news report likely meant that Nathanael Rea, a neighbor who was quoted in The Collegian, was actually the one making the statement, but recycling incorrectly reported news is hard to know you are doing unless you are close to the situation
B.) Krudy did NOT publish an editorial in the first place and he did NOT publish an apology. The Collegian staff put together the piece, very early Thursday April 2, and again, it's a STAFF written opinion, thus it's an editorial and not a column. So Kurdy did not publish an apology for something he alone was not responsible for. In fact he is the "Beyond" section editor for the paper, nothing to do with sports...he is just PART OF THE STAFF. Editor-in-chief Joy Pavelski is the spokesperson for The Collegian on this issue and Krudy just happens to have been targeted, likely because the proximity of his house to "The Baseball House".
I just thought you should know before you started thinking Krudy was indeed The Collegian all by himself. Krudy was just the victim of a terrible example of foul play.
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5 comments:
R.J.: Former Collegian baseball beat reporter (and, incidentally, fellow Gatehouse newspaper sports editor) here. I just want to say that your story is a great summary of events. I've been following from afar, and since I know both sides (Collegian staff and baseball players) I've been able to piece together the whole (correct, I think) story.
I can't imagine, though, what other alums/ neutral observers are thinking from reading that horrendous AP story, seeing how it sort of paints Krudy as the bad guy and the baseball players as reckless hoodlums. Which isn't the case at all.
Was yours in the HDN this morning, or will it be in tomorrow? Because it looks like the AP copy was ripped right from the Freep, since it seemed to be the first one up in cyberspace...unless I just missed yours and you got screwed.
Jack,
First of all thanks for the kind comments! I appreciate them. Secondly, it's pretty crazy that you used to write for the baseball team and now are part of the same company as I! I'm definitely going over to check out your paper's site when a I get a few free minutes. What year did you graduate BTW?
Anyways, the story actually won't go in until tomorrow morning and to be completely honest I should've maybe waited to put this on here, but most of our readers don't use the online format anyways and I was becoming DISGUSTED with the AP version for the aforementioned reasons. I'll be the first to admit there are some fishy little things underlying it all and follow up work is a must the next few days, but to be able to do that I think the public has to get the basic storyline and why they should care in the first place! B/C as you said it paints to very different pictures of the people involved. I talked with AP twice today and sent them my story twice as well, but they seem to be enamored with someone from the Detroit Free Press, who admittedly has his story to them first.
Anyways, I may be getting in contact with you down the road here just to hear a little about your experience with the baseball team...haha. Thanks again for the comment and best of luck in the GHouse world!
RJ
I graduated last year actually. That was the only year I covered baseball. Somehow they hired me right out of college even without much editing experience (shh!). (People around here ask "What are you doing coming to Missouri from Michigan?" My answer ia always: "Uhhh...simple....I wanted a job."
Anyway, yeah, you can send me an email to my Gmail (which you should maybe have) or to the WDG (sports at waynesvilledailyguide dot com), I'll be more than happy to talk with you about the baseballers. It was somewhat difficult since they always play so many games on the road to begin the season, but it was fun once I got into the swing of things.
R.J.,
I covered baseball with Jack (among other Collegian duties). I agree with him regarding your story. We've put together a blog post of our own about the national attention:Sadbearblog post.
And, like Jack, I'm willing to chat any time.
Tony,
That's a phenomenal blog post you guys put together! Very comprehensive and insightful. A lot of the stuff you talked about I already knew about, but some new light was shed on some of the commentary from the big news outlets. I actually talked to Bachelder about all the national media picking it up and how he thought it affected the college and what he was telling alumni and interested parents who called him b/c there was so much buzz. I will post a lengthy follow-up story with a FEW new details and a few extra POVs, but I want to get a little deeper still. that said I honestly would like to talk to both of you, probably early next week as I try and get a more comprehensive background on the baseball team from someone who actually knows a thing or two! Again, your guys' blog ROCKS...i already saved it under my bookmarks, b/c you guys do a great job linking things on there, with plenty of your other blogs to, and giving the reader a great feel for what's going on all over the place regarding an issue. Also thanks for the compliments. As a journalist you know they are few and far between! I'll get at you both once I figure out exactly what's going on and I'll post my newest story from tomorrow's paper on here tomorrow.
Thanks again.
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