Jake Barnes surfaces again
Letter to Romenesko
From MARK POTTS: There’s a very weird link between the Journatic fake byline scandal and one of the most notorious newspaper fakery scandals: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the fake byline Jeremy Schnitker used to submit 32 articles was Jake Barnes. That rung a bell, and a quick Google bore me out.
When Clyde Haberman famously got fired from the New York Times in 1966 for faking a report about a college award, the fictitious student he created was…Jake Barnes! It’s a “Sun Also Rises” allusion. I guess Schnitker (if that’s his real name) is a student of trivial journalism history!
[I've asked Schnitker and Journatic CEO Brian Timpone about "Jake Barnes."]
* Schnitker submitted 32 articles under pen name of Jake Barnes (SFGate.com)
UPDATE — Timpone emails: “‘The Sun Also Rises.’ One of our BlockShopper.com editors used it. I didn’t know the connection because I haven’t read the book.”
