Tale of no tail

One of my guiding principles is "If you dish it out, you'd better be prepared to take it."

Which is why, last week, I was happy to post a letter from Alan Parker, deputy managing editor of the Toronto Sun, who complained about my attack on the paper's stories about the fake Internet virgin. Parker made it seem as if I misrepresented the stories here, as if I made it seem that the Sun wasn't ''skeptical'' about the putative innocence of ''Geoff."

Never mind that, when the Sun launched its triple play of stories, it began with a sensational front page hit boasting two photos of "Geoff,'' including one with his pal ''Jen'' who would relieve him of his frustration should he get a sufficient number of hits on his website.

And I quote the entire front-page Sun headline of Tues, May 16: "MILLIONS HELP 25-YEAR-OLD T.O. VIRGIN GET LUCKY ON ... eLAY." The cutline under the photo read "Sexual innocent Geoff launched a website on a bet and needs 5 million hits in 30 days to lose his virginity. Platonic friend Jen, left (whose identity hasn't been confirmed so we can't show her face), says she'll support him with his 'problem' if he pulls off his online stunt. With two weeks to go, he's logged 3 million votes of support.''

That's it. That's all. Not a hint of a shred of evidence that the story wasn't true. No skepticism to be found anywhere. Inside, the page 3 report, while tongue in cheek, did nothing to disprove the story.

On Wednesday, yet another picture of "Geoff'' on the front, this time ''pictured at his high school grad with then-girlfriend Emily who has shot down his web tale of sexual woe.'' Headline: ''He sticks to his web story, but his ex-gal pal of 'chaste' 25-year-old says: HE'S NO VIRGIN!" On page 3, a story debunking Geoff's scam.

So, strictly speaking, Parker was correct to say that I was wrong in my ''vitriolic rant'' to write that the Sun ''retracted'' its story. As he charged:

The Sun, and only the Sun, shone a bright light on an Internet scam, talked to real people face-to-face, and busted a phony site that could have easily surpassed the 5 million hits in a month which the marketers were seeking.
The Sun's cred is fine. It's yours, Antonia, that nosedived.

So the Sun milks a fake story which it should have checked before splashing it all over its front page -- and then it dumps on me?

Like I said, I can take it.

But this -- this! -- is just too much. On Sunday, Sun Readership Editor Alison Downie, who really should have been looking into her own paper's ethics, instead attacked the Star's and mine.

In explaining to her readers why the Toronto Star had nothing on the story, media columnist Antonia Zerbisias wrote on her blog site, "because it was ridiculous, trivial, a waste of bandwidth -- and as it turned out, untrue." Like she knew that a week ago.

Uh. No. I explained why I had not blogged about how STUPID the Sun had been in getting caught with its journalistc pants down on the story. I did not even attempt to explain why the Star itself did not chase this ridiculous piece of fluff that the Sun seems so proud to have covered. (Nice try, Ms. Downie. Too bad it isn't true.)

She gets to the heart of the matter deep into her column (my comments are in blue):

We ran with the story Tuesday after speaking with Geoff and photographing him. (That's some journalism!) Some readers questioned why we would put what they felt was a non-story on front when there was much more important news happening (especially true stories), but Geoff's tale of woe had lots of interesting elements, said associate managing editor Mike Burke-Gaffney.

"You have a local guy getting attention from all over the world, there's the sex angle and the Internet angle," he said. "It's a perfect Sun story."

Whether the story belonged on front page is debatable (you'd think there would be no debate), but sometimes our editors like to shake things up and play up what's fun, or shocking, or exclusive (or hasn't yet been thoroughly checked out.) Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But at least we're not predictable. (or always credible.)

Some readers suggested Geoff's story only made front because we had two slow news day but not so. Editors liked the Internet Virgin story for front because it's what's known in the business as "a talker." (Not to mention a ''seller.'') Even those who hated the front page placement were talking about the story. (Finally, some honesty here.)

As usual, when we try to have a little fun or do somethig a little different, we are accused of acting like a tabloid, like that's a bad thing. We are a tabloid! We have always been a tabloid. In fact, all Sun newspapers -- Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary -- are tabloids. We're not ashamed of that, in fact it allows us to report news in a different way than those other stuffy guys. (I won't touch that one.)

Frankly, I think the Sun people are just still steamed about this.

Comments

[Ti-Guy]

"Tale of no tail"

How about "Cherry Bomb?" Ah hahahahahahah...

Oh, never mind.

[sooey]

gawd. the virgin life. tell me about it. i had a friend who was a virgin and she was 35. it was so stressful. really. virgins think they're so... self sacrificing. but really... i just kept thinking "gawd love the man who finally... well... you know..."

[Antonia Z.]

LOL

[balbulican]

Journalists (and I shall charitably apply that epithet to the folks at the Sun) know perfectly well when a trash story comes along. This one stinks right from the lead, and it's not the first of its kind: there have been dozens "losing their virginity on the net" stories, all of which have, oddly resolved down to some kind of pay per view website, usually directly or indirectly affiliated with a porn purveyor.

In their defense, the Sun pleads "fun", "different", and, of course, "seller". All which translates as..."Come on, Zerb. Lighten up. We know it was bullshit. YOU know it was bullshit. We were hoping to sell a few thousand to the folks too stupid to realize it was bullshit. "

And that would be fine - if the Sun were prepared to renounce any pretence of journalistic standards (which, for some of us, is already a given.)

But the problem is, when you run a story that's patently crap as news, it doesn't matter if you come back with a nudge or a wink when you're caught. You lied. You presented something as "news" that any fifteen year old could have told you was a cheap and vulgar scam. You knowingly lowered your bar. And once lowered, that's where it stays. You can't add a little icon to the stories you claim are "serious" news, specifying "No, Really, THIS Time We Mean It."

But don't worry. Most folks would never mistake the Sun's reportage for "journalism" anyway.

[keeper]

'followed like "drooling lemmings." '

Well Miss Downie (Miss for a reason)should be sent my response in regard to the nature of lemmings.

[Mark-Alan Whittle]

Well, who's to say that your broadside against CANOE wasn't amidships, we'll know if she turns turtle in a fortnight?

But Downie's 'rat-tail' flogging over the wanna' be virgin redux seems oh, so out of character for her, what's with that?

[Maz]

The Toronto Sun will hype this 'virgin' story, or flog a multi-page special report on Karla Homolka and her time in jail relieved by a
romance with a lesbian lover and, at the same time, run ads for a
couple dozen escort services in its advertisement section and put
out editorials full of moral outrage and bombast about one thing
or another. It underscores the need for widespread media literacy,
so consumers of the news understand that media is a business in
which sexual titillation, macabre romances and moral indignation are all aligned on the same playingfield and commodified for sale.

[Ivan Prokopchuk]

Personally, my dear, I don't give a ....?

[Jay Currie]

Dear Lord, the Zerb is "fisking". When will the madness stop?

"You have a local guy getting attention from all over the world, there's the sex angle and the Internet angle," he said. "It's a perfect Sun story."

This should be the epitaph for the Toronto Sun, but it won't be.

[Bill-Muskoka]

Her statement, and I quote:

"As usual, when we try to have a little fun or do somethig a little different, we are accused of acting like a tabloid, like that's a bad thing. We are a tabloid! We have always been a tabloid. In fact, all Sun newspapers -- Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary -- are tabloids. We're not ashamed of that, in fact it allows us to report news in a different way than those other stuffy guys."

Said all there needed to be said.

Yeah, Antonia, all you 'stuffy guys', i.e. professionals, should lighten up alright. Sounds to me like the Sun's staff has been 'lighting up' a LOT!!

(Now where is my latest issue of World Weekly News Report and the 'Saddam has Velociraptors' story)

[Justin...]

I believe it was about 10 years ago the Sun published - on it's FRONT COVER - a picture of a woman who had been murdered. What made this extra special was that it was a still from a video shot minutes before she was killed. The headline read something like "This Woman is about to Die" or something horrible like that.

That said, Alison Downie, how do you sleep at night?

Oh right, you guys are PROTECTING the moral fabric of the nation while having a little fun:

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Lorrie_Goldstein/2005/02/06/pf-922308.html

[Glowbull]

"Tale Of No Tail"

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

[Glowbull]

"Saddam Hussein has Velociraptors" is pure crapola.

Pfft.

I know for a FACT that he has sharks with laser beams on their heads.

[Joan Tintor]

I grudgingly have to agree with all of this.

The first day the Sun ran the story on the front page, I wondered what possessed them to do it, especially when they couldn't locate his gal pal who was promising to relieve him of his virginity if his site got 5,000,000 hits.

Their story seems to be that they had their suspicions, but ran the story to smoke the guy out as a fraud. That's kind of taking your readers on a ride without telling them where they're going.

A rare black eye for my beloved Sun.

[sooey]

5,000,000 hits! quick - all you virgin bloggers - he'd have to hit on his site every 10 seconds for how many days?

[Bill-Muskoka]

glowbull,

'I know for a FACT that he has sharks with laser beams on their heads.'

Darn, I must have misread that article about the U.S. is going to be using LASERS in Iraq. Thanks for helping me straighten that one out! Boy, that is really going to PISS OFF the Navy SEAL Teams!

Personally, I still like the one where they showed OBL and Sodumb Insane having their Gay wedding. Sodumb looked good in white! LMAO!

[Ti-Guy]

"A rare black eye for my beloved Sun."

Indeed. Hopefully, with the lessons learned from this contre-temps, The Sun will re-instate its book review section, which I sorely miss.

[Jeff]

To Joan Tintor,
"A rare black eye for my beloved Sun."
BWA-HA-HA-HA

Hmmm, just what sort of pay cuts do you think Sun staffers had to agree to in order to drop the weekday price to $0.50 in their feeble attempt to simply maintain whatever readership level it has left?

[sooey]

now THAT'S something you don't see every day: "my beloved sun"...