David Shulman in May 10th JERUSLAME REPORT

[Fred Shapiro]

On Thu, 6 May 1999, David Bergdahl wrote:

> Barry is a judge, so he doesn't meet j-school students as we do: clearly
> he is overestimating both the intelligence and the training of reporters.

I don't think anyone who has dealt with reporters overestimates their
intelligence, training, or accuracy.  A couple of weeks ago the New York
Times printed an article about the origins of the expression "When did you
stop beating your wife?"  They interviewed me for the article, but
referred to me throughout the piece as "Fred Siegel."  The reporter later
told me that she knew someone named Fred Siegel, and her mind just
conflated the two people.

Given the many inaccuracies one sees in the Times when they write about
something of which one has personal knowledge, one can only assume that
all their reporting is riddled with errors.

Fred R. Shapiro                             Coeditor (with Jane Garry)
Associate Librarian for Public Services     TRIAL AND ERROR: AN OXFORD
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            ANTHOLOGY OF LEGAL STORIES
Yale Law School                             Oxford University Press, 1998
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               ISBN 0-19-509547-2