Lede in The Hoya very similar to Washington Blade lede
Posted by: Sam Sweeney in News, Vox Populi, tags: Journalism, Same-Sex Marriage, The Hoya, Washington BladeThe first paragraph from a story on the possibility of D.C. legalizing gay marriage which appeared in the September 17 Washington Blade (emphasis mine):
If Democrats expand their majority in Congress and California voters uphold same-sex marriage, a gay marriage bill is likely to be approved by the D.C. City Council as early as April 2009, according to activists and City Hall insiders.
The lede from a similar story in The Hoya by Anna Salinas which appeared on September 23:
Same-sex marriage could be legalized in D.C. as early as this coming spring if Democrats gain more Congressional seats in November, according to activists and insiders at City Hall.
Looks a little fishy to me. “If Democrats expand their majority in Congress” = “if Democrats gain more Congressional seats”, “as early as April 2009″ = “as early as this coming spring”, and “according to activists and City Hall insiders” = “according to activists and insiders at City Hall.” If it weren’t for that last phrase, I wouldn’t have noticed about the similarities—it’s not uncommon for two stories on the same topic to have similar ledes. I kind of doubt that The Hoya’s writer has inside sources at City Hall, though.
Salinas’s article cites the Blade’s article on mayoral and council support for the bill, so she definitely read it. Hoya editor-in-chief Bailey Heaps declined to comment when I asked him about the similarities.
Update Sept. 29 8:36 pm: Bailey Heaps responds:
After investigating this matter, it appears that during the editing process, we subconsciously co-opted a phrase from the Washington Blade story into our lead. This underscores the need to always be as thorough and critical as we possibly can be throughout the editing process. It was an unnecessary mistake and readers deserve much better. We regret the error
He added, “This error should not be attributed to Anna, a very capable new writer.”
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Come on Sam, you can’t expect The Hoya to do their own reporting. They’re the newspaper of record and have more important things to do than actually report news… like making a big fuss about being “independent”.
The number of stories/blog posts in the Voice criticizing THe Hoya is astounding. If the Hoya turned around and started making The Voice’s mistakes its primary focus, it would be skewered for it.
What a burn, Emmett! The Hoya does some good reporting, though, and good on them for it.
Roy, I do it all for the pageviews, and there is a ravenous demand on this campus for press criticism.
I took a look back through our archives on the blog for posts mentioning the Hoya. The most recent one I could find was from April, regarding the name of a new blog of theirs. Before that–January, a couple of posts on the Hoya’s independence.
As far as criticism in print of the Hoya, the only article I can remember from this year or last is one that I myself wrote criticizing their April Fool’s issue, which I felt deserved to be criticized.
So I don’t really think it’s true that the Voice has an astounding number of stories/blog posts criticizing the Hoya, unless two or three in 2 years is your idea of astounding. I certainly agree with your point that finding mistakes in the Voice isn’t difficult–we’re constantly finding them ourselves, and working to make sure they don’t happen again. This is why we generally don’t criticize the Hoya on the basis of unintentional mistakes or typos or anything like that. But if the Voice had a lede that mirrored one from a story it sited, I would certainly consider that fair game. If we didn’t catch it, I would be grateful to whomever did point it out so we could have the chance to address it ourselves.
First, a disclosure: I work in the biz office of The Hoya.
Second, my personal opinion:
You have to be kidding me. Try re-writing the lede. The way it was written is the obvious, clear, concise way to do so. I’m sure you could prove me wrong, but the important point is that you are nitpicking (and embarrassingly so).
Sam, your reply relies on the assumption that you could not be made aware of the similarities without reading about it on a blog.
Oh, snap. Homegurl Salinas needs to get learned.