Bloggers rule the Test
We heckled, laughed, screamed, chanted, begged for water, frightened Samantha Bee, annoyed Wendy Mesley and, most importantly, dominated. I speak of last night's performance by the blogger team on Test the Nation. It was a blast.
Over 30 Wordpress monkeys were flown to Toronto to square off against cab drivers, celebrity look-alikes, chefs, backpackers and flight crews. We talked a big game before the show and delivered on every front. The bloggers had the highest team score, the highest individual score, and the highest celebrity score. Samantha Bee wiped the floor with her competition. Then she stayed around afterwards to take photos and generally be nice to everybody. This was especially appreciated after we had relentlessly chanted "Bee, Bee, Bee" at every opportunity. Seriously, we were fucking loud. Even during the test. Wendy Mesley would read out a question and inevitably someone in our section would have a smartass comment to make. We were cracking up the entire time. And getting the answers correct to boot.
On a personal note, it was great to meet some of the folks from Torontoist and Photojunkie in person. I also got to hang with the lovely and talented Lainey, who very nicely took a copy of my book. And I slipped a copy into the hands of Samantha Bee. All in all, a good time. Some pics are below. Oh, and I think I got about 54 or 55 out of 60 correct. Holla!
UPDATE Jan 23: I just received my final score -- 54/60. Not too shabby. Also, this is the best round-up I've read so far. Check it out.
Me and Kiss!
Kiss, Pamela Anderson, Shakira, Paris Hilton. No idea who the woman in between Pam and Shakira is supposed to be.
They gave each team props. Backpackers got flags, cab drivers got steering wheels, chefs got kitchen stuff...we got keyboards and the occasional computer mouse. I often brandished mine like a weapon and screamed "I've got a mouse!" It was funny at the time. Okay, maybe not. But this was my mouse.
A look at the set.
This was the controller used to input answers. Very complicated piece of technology.
Another shot of the studio. The air was very dry and featured a light dusting of fake smoke. We soon became extremely thirsty and begged for water.
Taken shortly after our victory.This is the awesome Andy Nulman holding the trophy.
Max Roach waltzes off
When I promised more posts earlier today, I didn't dream I'd have to post this: Max Roach died today.
Roach was and will remain arguably the best pure bebop drummer ever, and the man who made the drum solo a feat of elegance and musicality with his piece, "The Drum Also Waltzes."
Roach was an unrelenting advocate for civil rights and for jazz, the music he helped define. He was also the man who, much to my dismay, forgot about our phone interview years back and left me hangin'. I had always dreamed about getting to interview Max Roach, but, as always, he did things on his own time. The man played some impeccable time.
I missed him then, and I'm missing him tonight.
My Professional Disclosures
As I note on Regret the Error today, the New York Times has created a questionnaire that it now requires all freelancers to complete before they can work for the paper. In my Regret post, I said I would fill out the questionnaire (I've never written for the Times), and also include a listing of my professional disclosures a la Jeff Jarvis' page here. This page will be constantly updated and is meant to offer a level of transparency to my work and personal/professional affiliations. My disclosures are below, and the completed Times questionnaire follows them.
Disclosures (last updated July 26, 2006):
Companies I have done writing or consulting work for:
Radialpoint (formerly Zero-Knowledge Systems). I spent three years working full time in this company's communications department between 1999 and 2002. Since then I continued to do contract work, though I am not currently working with the company.
Mozilla Corporation
GoSecure
MegaBloks
WanderPort
Glutino
FundScrip
Got
Blue Sponge
BBCanada.com
Gearwerx
Mad Science
Nurun (Client: Disneyland Resort Paris)
Vincelli Communications (Client: Vifan)
SiteSell.com
The Acting Project
SEG! Canada
Alogia + Logient
Organizational Affiliations
I am the president of the Quebec chapter of the Professional Writer's Association of Canada.
I am a member of the Canadian Freelance Union.
I am a member of the Board of Directors of the Concordia University Journalism Alumni Association.
I have spoken to classes at Concordia University and Vanier College.
I have volunteered at the Griffith McConnell Residence.
I do not belong to any social organizations.
Stocks
I own roughly 2,000 shares of Radialpoint, a private company.
Politics
I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of a political party. I am not a supporter of any particular political party in Canada. I have voted for these parties in federal and provincial elections:
Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Quebec
NDP
Green Party
Responses to the New York Times Questionnaire:
1. Please list your other current employers, whether full time or part time
I am a staff writer for the NewCanadian, which is a part time contract position. I write a weekly column for Hour on a freelance basis and have done so for roughly three years. I currently work with Handel Productions on a contract/freelance basis, doing research on documentary films and developing an idea for a film based on an article I published. I am also currently on a short term writing contract with Mozilla Corproation, working on writing web content. And I am writing copy for Alogia + Logient, a web development company.
Apart from these clients, I also regularly contribute to Toro magazine and the National Review of Medicine, though this is purely on a freelance basis. I write for several other publications, though on a less frequent basis. See "About Craig" on the left hand column of this site for a listing of publications.
2. For what other employers have you worked in the last three years?
Please refer to the client list above for a full listing of contract/full time employers (excluding freelance publication writing) over the last seven years.
3.
What sort of volunteer work do you do regularly, if any, and for whom?
(Please include any public relations, advocacy or advisory board
involvement.)
I volunteer for the organizations listed above and have also volunteered at the Griffith McConnell Residence, an elder care facility where my girlfriend works.
4. Do you do any work paid or unpaid in politics or government? Have you done any lobbying of governmental bodies?
No.
5.
Do you have any financial investments or financial ties that may limit
your ability to cover specific topics free of conflict, and if so, what
are the topics?
My shares and work experience with Radialpoint preclude me form writing anything about the company or Internet security/privacy.
6. Although we don’t regulate the activities
of spouses, partners or immediate family members of our contributors,
do any of their professional or personal involvements or any of their
financial investments or ties make certain topics inappropriate for
you, and if so, what are the topics?
As noted before, my girlfriend works at an elder care facility, making it inappropriate for me to write about this facility.
7. Have you accepted any
free trips, junkets or press trips in the last two years? Have you
accepted any substantial free merchandise or discounts from people we
might cover?
No.
8. Has anything you’ve written later resulted in
a published editor’s note or retraction for deliberate falsehood or
plagiarism or become the subject of a lawsuit involving allegations of
deliberate falsehood? (If yes, please include details about the
publication and your role in the article or story. If a lawsuit, please
describe the disposition of the case.)
No. My work has never resulted in an editor's note.
Junos, a press clip, and what the kids think about the media
I know, long time no post. But I'm back with a couple of offerings and a promise for more.
First things first: I joined three of my best friends/colleagues on a very memorable road trip a couple of weeks ago. The four of us packed into a rental car and headed to my hometown, Halifax, NS, to attend the Junos -- Canada's version of the Grammys. I went for Toro magazine, but the chances of me filing something were slim, thanks to their long lead time. So I just got to relax and have fun. And oh did we have fun.
Jamie O'Meara wrote a column about our exploits for Hour (yes, that's me kissing my bicep in the photo; don't ask), as did Brendan Murphy (link) and Richard Burnett (link). It's all fun reading.
Next, I am quoted in an article in Presstime, the publication of the Newspaper Association of America. The story is about (what else?) errors in newspapers and how to prevent them. I've pasted the text below (the story is not online yet.)
Finally, I am off to speak to a writing class at Vanier College today. The class is taught by my good friend Martin Siberok. I've visited the class a few times over the last few years, and it's always interesting to hear what the students have to say about the media. This year I decided to get their thoughts on paper by giving them a questionnaire. The class ranges in age from 17 to 24 years-old. I'll be sharing some of the interesting results soon, so come back for the details.
The Presstime article:
'There Really Are No Small Errors'
BY MARY LYNN F. JONES
DURING THE LAST 12 months, thousands of errors have slipped into the nation's newspapers. Among the more memorable: a Dallas Morning News column referring to a woman as a socialist, rather than a socialite; a Denver Daily News item that called New Jersey "Jew Jersey"; and a Chicago Tribune photo caption that misidentified tennis star Serena Williams as singer Beyonce Knowles.
"Errors are probably always going to happen," says Craig Silverman, whose blog, Regret the Error (www.regrettheerror.com), has tracked journalistic mistakes since October 2004. "The question is, can you get rid of the real groaners?"
How to keep such errors out of newspapers will be among the topics discussed at the American Copy Editors Society conference April 20-22 in Cleveland.
Kathy Schenck, assistant managing editor for the copy desk at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, says she pauses before letting certain words -- such as corruption, gangster and epidemic -- into the paper. That's because those words "are loaded and are sometimes used inaccurately," says Schenck, who will lead a conference session on critical copyediting.
"It's about thinking about what those words really mean and making sure that the situation calls for using them," adds Schenck, who started a program for her paper's 33 copy editors last fall that focuses on topics such as math, the courts and use of the Internet.
In February, The New York Times launched the "Quarter Hour Project," aimed at giving copy editors an additional 15 minutes to work on each story. Each participating department -- all except for the Week in Review and Book Review sections and The New York Times Magazine -- determined where it could shave off the additional time.
The idea, says Merrill Perlman, director of the paper's 14 copy desks, which include about 160 staffers, is "to give them a little more breathing space to think about the content of a story."
All copy editors "should check error-prone, verifiable facts as time permits," such as spellings of names, titles, phone numbers and street addresses, Perlman says. Other suggestions include looking for internal inconsistencies in a story, as well as "focus errors," like whether a number should be followed by millions or billions.
And, Perlman says, copy editors should "think about what somebody is saying and what you know." For example, visualize the description of a car accident to see if it makes sense. "Follow your instincts," she adds.
Other common mistakes, according to Silverman, involve misidentification (making a man into a woman in a story, for example) and omission (leaving out an important word in a quote). "There really are no small errors," he says.
On the Media, and some more on me
It's time for some more shameless self promotion.
Late last year I taped an interview with the great radio show, On The Media. You can listen to it here. I also recently did an interview with the folks at Media Orchard, which you can read here. Finally, the current issue of Esquire magazine reprints some of Regret's choice corrections from last year and gives me credit in its hilarious Dubious Achievements. (You'll have to buy the mag, moneybags.)
That is all.
Welcome
Hey there. Thanks for stopping by. I'm a freelance journalist and author in Montreal, Canada. I serve as an associate editor for PBS MediaShift, a website that reports on trends in new media and journalism. I edit RegretTheError.com and wrote a book of the same name. I'm also the co-author, with Michael Calce, of Mafiaboy: How I Cracked The Internet and Why It's Still Broken. Both books are listed to the right.
I write weekly columns for Hour and Columbia Journalism Review online, and am a former columnist and blogger for The Globe And Mail. Read my bio by clicking on the "About Me" link above, or check out the "Writing Samples" page to read some of my work. If you're interested in speaking with me about an assignment or project, email me at the address listed below.
Recent Writing/Work