Jill Abramson doesn't record interviews thanks to almost photographic memory

[CD Boogie]

To play devil's advocate, why aren't we applying the same level of outrage to Hunter Thompson? We just assume the reader accepts that he is an unreliable narrator using it as a device to get at a larger truth while someone actually admits it in the back of their book and they're a liar?

You just answered your own question.

 

[Azrael]

To play devil's advocate, why aren't we applying the same level of outrage to Hunter Thompson? We just assume the reader accepts that he is an unreliable narrator using it as a device to get at a larger truth while someone actually admits it in the back of their book and they're a liar?

You just answered your own question.

I never said I was a good devil's advocate.

Robert Love was Thompson's editor at Rolling Stone.

CJR May/June 2005: Ideas & Reviews - Essay by Robert Love

 

[CD Boogie]

Robert Love was Thompson's editor at Rolling Stone.

CJR May/June 2005: Ideas & Reviews - Essay by Robert Love

Thanks for posting that. Great read

 

[billchristine]

Danny Ozark when he managed was just as malaprop-prone as Yogi Berra only he wasn't around long enough or in New York enough to be quoted. But even Yogi didn't say many of the silly things attributed to him. One day I was in the presence of Ozark when he blurted something. A New York writer in the room turned to another New York writer and whispered, "That's something we could have Yogi say."

 

[LanceyHoward]

Danny Ozark when he managed was just as malaprop-prone as Yogi Berra only he wasn't around long enough or in New York enough to be quoted. But even Yogi didn't say many of the silly things attributed to him. One day I was in the presence of Ozark when he blurted something. A New York writer in the room turned to another New York writer and whispered, "That's something we could have Yogi say."

Yogi Berra owes his fame to the following in order of importance:

1. Having Joe Garagiola grow up with him and using him for comic material.
2. Having a comical appearance and name.
3. Being a really good catcher.
4. Playing on a dynasty.

 

[John B. Foster]

 

[LanceyHoward]

I find a certain irony here that Abramson can remember every interview with "photographic" accuracy but not whether she actually wrote something.

 

[SoloFlyer]

If I was as lazy and arrogant as Jill Abramson in my job, I'd be unemployed.

 

[FileNotFound]

If I was as lazy and arrogant as Jill Abramson in my job, I'd be unemployed.

There's a reason why she's no longer editor of The New York Times.

 

[tapintoamerica]

This smacks of "Alternative Facts."
I won't be surprised if this whole controversy helps book sales. We may never know one way or the other, of course.

 

[Azrael]

Perhaps worth noting that every time she opens her mouth, Ms. Abramson makes it worse.

 

[Doc Holliday]

In the modern age, an act of plagiarism like this might be a lot easier to inadvertently commit than a lot of us give it credit for. I suspect what happens on some occasions is that a writer uses Notepad or some sort of word processing app to take notes. On some occasions, they paraphrase whatever nugget of information they come across. Other times, they find it easier to just copy and paste a graf from their browser with the thought that they will end up incorporating the information into their overall work. Unless the writer is super organized, I would think it would be easy for them to occasionally mistake a rather mundane block of text in their Notes document for their own paraphrasing, rather than a direct copy+paste.

Really, it doesn't make sense for a writer to knowingly crib such a mundane paragraph when they could easily rewrite that information. I guess that doesn't excuse it. And if the writer does not offer attribution, it is a clear sin. But if she cites the source of the information of a paragraph that ends up being lifted verbatim, we're really only talking about the lack of italics of quotation marks or an attributive parenthetical. Sloppy, yes. But a different ethical ballpark than knowingly passing off somebody else's work as one's own.

So, how's life treating you these days Mrs. Abramson?