Gawker: this american life

Jack Shafer Exposes Malcolm Gladwell's Lies About Lying

rebecca — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:00:32 EDT

Remember when I freaked out that Malcolm Gladwell, the most successful pop-non-fiction writer of our time, was bragging about pulling pranks at the Washington Post? And remember how I was further irked that Gladwell was lying about lying? And remember how Pareene was like seriously, Rebecca, this is tired? Actually, you might not remember that, because it was a private conversation we had. But Slate media critic Jack Shafer thinks it's interesting.

Shafer devotes thousands of words and dozens of Nexis searches to Gladwell's tall tale, which turns out to be quite tall. In the story, Gladwell claimed to have been put on prohibition at the Post, which no one at the paper can remember. William Booth, Gladwell's former colleague at the Post and Billy in the story, denies there ever being a "perverse and often baffling" contest. Many of the articles that Gladwell cites never actually ran in the paper.

Shafer also agrees that it was lame of Gladwell and This American Life to encourage listeners to believe the story was true, so ha, Pareene. Shafer, Malcolm Gladwell and This American Life host Ira Glass, all media people I adore, have thoughts on this pet topic of mine. Now I can relate to what Gladwell said in the Moth story about his first mistake at the paper, which incidentally, was a fib: "All of a sudden there is a little glimmer, and I can begin to see that there is some hope in this profession and this thing that didn't make sense to me is now kind of making sense." [Slate]

This American Social Awkwardness

rebecca — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:21:17 EST

Last week, Ira Glass, host of This American Life spoke with This American Life contributor David Rakoff at UC Berkeley. What a nice thing for the students! But the engagement was spoiled by New Yorker writer Cynthia Gorney, who can't moderate an event to save her ass. The Berkeley student paper wrote, "In addition to her excessive exaltation thinly disguised as interview questions and an inexplicable penchant for interrupting the witty banter between Ira and David, Gorney's determination to get Ira to elaborate on precisely how he decided to mix in one song over another was an utter failure." Her moderating was so uncomfortable that the school offered tickets to another show to make it up to the guests. After the jump, Berkeley's admission of Cynthia Gorney's failures.

From Cal Performances:

Dear Valued Patron:
At Cal Performances, we're committed to bringing to our stages the very best in dance, music, theater and the spoken word, and to making your experience while in our halls enjoyable.

It concerns us, therefore, that a number of patrons who attended the Saturday, February 23 talk by Ira Glass and David Rakoff have written to express their dissatisfaction with the event. A moderator for the talk was provided at Mr. Glass and Mr. Rakoff's request, but many of you felt disappointed by this format. We apologize for the unfortunate circumstances that detracted from your enjoyment of the evening.

As a way of expressing our appreciation of your continued patronage and to show how much we value your trust in Cal Performances, we would like to invite you to be our guest at either the performance of the SF Jazz Collective on Saturday, March 15 at 8 pm in Zellerbach Hall; or the upcoming taping of the nationally broadcast radio program, From the Top, on Thursday, May 29 at 8 pm in Zellerbach Hall.

Please contact the Ticket Office at 510.642.9988 or tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu by March 15, 2008 to complete your ticket request. Please note that only tickets purchased through the Cal Performances' Ticket Office and only the original purchaser of the tickets to the Ira Glass/David Rakoff event is eligible to take advantage of this offer (as we must have a record of your purchase in our system). Seating will be based on availability.

We hope to see you at Cal Performances very soon!

Sincerely,
Robert Cole, Director of Cal Performances

Malcolm Gladwell's Newspaper Daze

Pareene — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:31:03 EST

Malcom Gladwell was on precious radio program This American Life recently, telling some stories of his earliest days of "real" journalism at the Washington Post. He apparently had a bet with a colleague to determine which of them could be the first to insert a couple amusing phrases into the venerable paper. First was "new and troubling questions," which is surely already a journalistic cliche. Following that was the more amusing "perverse and often baffling"—a harder fit, but Gladwell managed it. Of course, Gladwell, easily one of the most charming one-trick ponies in media, has been dining out on this story for a dozen years. Despite that, it upset Jossip very very much, as it raises new and troubling questions about the state of respectable journalism. Audio clip attached.