Our ’70s Week continues with this item from the October 1975 issue of [More] journalism review:

More from the ’70s-era [More]:
* You too can become a rock critic
* Those old UPI filler items were the greatest

Letter to Romenesko

From LARRY KART: Maybe it’s just the me that once was a copy editor, but this lede on Pete Thamel’s story in Tuesday’s NY Times struck me as pumped up with fake metaphorical energy to the point of near incoherence:

When Big East Commissioner John Marinatto resigned Monday, the battered league was left at another crossroads. It could either crumble or find itself a billion-dollar television deal in September.

The Big East, scheduled to have 13 Football Bowl Subdivision programs and 18 basketball universities, now has a gypsy’s soul, with Kardashian commitment issues and a future so unstable that its pool of candidates will not be filled with polished clones like Pacific-12 Commissioner Larry Scott.

The league has been “battered” and “left at a crossroads” where it might “crumble”? It has a “a gypsy’s soul, with Kardashian commitment issues”? And it has a “pool of candidates” for what? (Yes, to take the resigned commissioner’s place, but as written “its pool of candidates” is a second reference without a first one.) And who or what is Pacific-12 Commissioner Larry Scott a polished clone of?

Am I the only one who suspects that such delirious, mixed pickles writing is what the editors at the Times sports section have come to desire. If so, they should stop it!

(I’ve invited Thamel to comment.)

While all the country talked about North Carolina’s anti-gay marriage Amendment One, the Greensboro News & Record editorial page said nothing during the fierce debate. (Its conservative publisher, Robin Saul, opposes same-sex marriage.)

Now that voters have approved the marriage ban, “the editorial page got permission from Saul to mention the amendment after the fact,” writes Ed Cone, “if only to tell us that a lot of people voted.” N&R’s bland editorial points out that “more voters were interested in the marriage amendment than in the governor’s races or the presidential primaries or anything else on the ballot.” The Charlotte Observer, which took a stance on the issue, today scolds the state’s voters for their “wrong and disgraceful” position. It points out:

The state is on the wrong side of history on this matter. Most Americans are increasingly rejecting this type of prejudice against gays and lesbians. A new Gallup poll showed 50 percent of Americans believe same sex marriages should be recognized as legal, while 48 percent say such marriages should not be legal.

* Editorial: The hottest issue (News & Record)
* Editorial page mentions Amendment One after the fact (Ed Cone)
* Same-sex marriage amendment is just wrong (Charlotte Observer)
* What the News & Record is silent on Amendment One (JimRomenesko.com)

Jonah Goldberg

The dust jacket of “The Tyranny of Clichés: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas” says conservative author Jonah Goldberg has “twice been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize,” but Bill Dedman points out that Goldberg simply entered his work and was never “nominated.”

Goldberg tells Dedman he didn’t mean to mislead anyone and would remove the Pulitzer nominations claim from his National Review Online bio. Dedman writes:

What’s surprising in Goldberg’s case is that he has been called out for the same resume padding before, when his previous book was published.

I asked Dedman about his catch. He writes: “I was looking at the top 100 books on Amazon, saw his book, wasn’t sure if I recognized his name, so I clicked through. As soon as I saw in the bio that he was a two-time Pulitzer nominee, I doubted it. …You can see the padding now still on his Amazon page for the book, and as of this moment still on the Penguin USA website.

* Author Jonah Goldberg drops claim of two Pulitzer nominations (msnbc.com)
* NPR – using publisher’s info – calls Goldberg a “Pulitzer Prize-nominated author” (NPR Books)
* From 2008: Jonah Goldberg’s faux Pulitzer “nomination” (Daily Kos)

AOL’s first-quarter revenue fell 4% to $529.4 million, beating analysts’ average forecast of $526.5 million. Total ad revenue was up 5% on growth in third-party network ads and international growth, reports Jennifer Saba, but display advertising fell 1%.

Peter Kafka notes:

AOL’s dialup unit, which still powers the whole operation, continues to shrink … that archaic business lost 14% of its subscribers in the last year.

As for Patch, the hyperlocal sites “grew traffic and advertisers over 40% year-over-year and revenue over 100% year-over-year,” says AOL’s press release. Of course, it’s not hard to achieve those percentage growths when the numbers are low.

Meanwhile, Pando Daily reports AOL is seeking buyers for TechCrunch and Engadget — it would be a package deal — and is asking $70 million to $100 million for the sites. “Our sources are unaware of any serious bidders right now, but there’s been plenty of flirting with the idea,” reports Pando. (UPDATE: That’s “100 percent untrue,” says AOL CEO Tim Armstrong.)

* AOL quarterly profit beats expectations, display ads dip (Reuters)
* A disappointing ad number for AOL (All Things D) || AOL press release
* AOL seeking buyers for Engadget and TechCrunch, Arrington isn’t interested (Pando Daily)