Journal GMontag's Journal: Washington Post: Mr. Wrong by Howard Kurtz 15
Howard Kurtz has written a short item about my meeting Eve Fairbanks of The New Republic: Mr. Wrong (quoted in full below)
Comments can be made on the article at The New Republic, registeration required.
Howard has been in touch with me since 6 July 2006 when Glenn Reynolds posted a mention of my side of the encounter with New Republic "reporter" Eve Fairbanks and her item "Mr. Right". Actually, Glenn sent Howard my e-mail address and Howard then contacted me. We spoke by phone and exchanged a lot of e-mail. Mr. Kurtz really boiled the story down to the two main issues that affected me. First the ethics of going after regular folks who are just looking for a girlfriend, then the embarrassment I had of being recognized and cast in a dim light. Also, discovering that someone I had such a great impression of turned out to be not-so-bright, plus all of the rest.
Vinod has written a much shorter, and better critique of the style aspect of the "Mr. Right" (free) story than what I have been doing. He noticed that the details of the story were not randomly inaccurate and pointed in a certain direction. He has insight into her motovation that I did not choose to comment on. Click over to You're not the ogre I expected.
Yes, Mr. Kurtz did quote me accurately and the quote from her e-mail is accurate too, I sent him copies of that and, from the way he wrote the story, looks like he verified it with Eve too. What recollection of the date does that match? Sure not hers.
Yep, I did say "total dimwit", but that may have been harsh so I have not been writing that way. Also, I asked that he get in touch with Eve Fairbanks as well as Harold C. Hutchison before writing his story to give them a fair hearing. He said that he had already spoken to Eve, no mention of Harold and I think I asked at least twice for Harold to be contacted, providing a link to Harold's 'blog entry. As written in his own words, Harold was another "date" for this story. Very little was written about him (whichever other guy he is), but he says the details for him are accurate, although he does not remember the details. Harold still insists that the story is accurate and that any complaints are "baseless".
After this experience I am not surprised at all that Eve Fairbanks is "befuddled" at my take on her abuse of the undercover technique in reporting. Was Stephen Glass, of the same publication, "befuddled" by the reaction to his methods? I do not know. However, I suspect that this is a common feeling for her.
I have yet to receive any white oversized polos or copies of the story from TNR to carry in my 'hybrid'. My "total dimwit" comment was about the whole hybrid thing, as in: 'I cannot believe I spent two weeks trying to get a second date with a total dimwit who said I drive a hybrid' or 'I cannot believe I spent two weeks trying to get a second date with a total dimwit who thinks that my muscle car is a hybrid'. To top-it-off, a more accurate word would be 'reschedule' rather than 'get'. As you can see, it probably came out a little confusing when I said it.
There is one, little-tiny, good thing that came out of this. I have now been mentioned on the same page as Ann Coulter (hottest chick on earth) in a magazine and in The Washington Post
The last time I was in a Washington Post story was covered here. Free copy of the WaPo story "From Teen Hackers to Job Hunters" By Ariana Eunjung Cha. That item is a great example on how to keep the subject's identity private AND write a factual article. She has no problems staying in touch through e-mail and we say hi every few months or so. She even e-mailed me about the article below, two days after publication.
Full disclosure: I like the reporters from that paper who have interviewed me, but I hate the paper.
The whole thing is quoted below, with permission from Mr. Kurtz.
(contained in
Tabloid Titans On TV!
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 17, 2006; 8:42 AM)
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New Republic reporter Eve Fairbanks wrote an amusing piece recently on men she had encountered through the ConservativeMatch dating site.
She responded this way to one of them: "I'm petite with curly red-brown hair, and I'm wearing a casual black pinstripe suit with a magenta top. See you this evening!"
In her piece, Fairbanks poked fun at the man -- a lover of Guns & Ammo magazine whom she dubbed "Shooter" -- as being "perched awkwardly on a stool, clad in an oversized white polo with his company's logo on the breast." There was a picture of him, Fairbanks wrote, in a "Club Gitmo" T-shirt on Rush Limbaugh's Web site, which accepts submissions from fans.
Now Shooter has fired back in a posting on Slashdot.org. While he found Fairbanks "bright, charming and very pretty," he says, she never told him she was writing about him in the "Mr. Right" article, even though they stayed in e-mail contact after the date.
Shooter, a Washington area defense contractor who asked that his name be withheld in discussing his dating habits, says in an interview that many friends recognized him from the details and asked when he had started "dressing like a dork. . . . I cannot believe I spent two weeks trying to get a second date with a total dimwit."
Fairbanks says she's "befuddled" by his response. "I was writing a light piece, and I actually think he comes off pretty well. I went to great lengths to totally obscure his identity. It seems to me to be a pretty old and major tradition in journalism to go undercover."
I like the final treatment, with my quote followed by her moronic one.
Also like the e-mail quote, confirming me vs. her version.
Me wonders when Eve Fairbanks is supposed to start at The Weekly Standard and give me yet another reason to ignore them too.
The "befuddled" Ms. Fairbanks left this exchange out of her article, where she finds non-white neighborhoods to be "coming up" and non-white cobblers to be shiftless.
Not sure why she did that as an e-mail from her is posted there too with her assurance that everything she told me was honest.
Holy FSoF (Score:2)
okay, i've been following this off and on since you started posting it, and while i thought it was amusing... now that i've seen an actual quote from this... well, i'm going to say, MORON... i'm shocked that someone would give her a job as a journalist. oh wait, i shouldn't be shocked... i mean, tnr gave stephen glass a job and some how dan rather got a job doing the same thing... and jayson blair... and a good chunk of tho
Saw that (Score:2)
Re:Saw that (Score:2)
I think with some good seeding this could have some legs.
gets the worm* (Score:2)
I would say that the Pentagon Generals should be taking a highly active interest in Guy's dating habits.
Guy, the email in your profile isn't working, and I don't remember which one of
Re:gets the worm* (Score:2)
Kurtz (Score:2)
Re:Kurtz (Score:2)
HA!