@jadamlucas @darrenheitner hopefully a retraction is forthcoming. poor form to just delete the article and not follow up publicly as to why.

— Kyle McKay (@KyleMcKayNC) January 4, 2013

@gtheel @jadamlucas I pulled it myself. Didn’t think the article represented the quality of work my readers should demand of me.

— Darren Heitner (@DarrenHeitner) January 4, 2013

Of course, there’s a cached version of Darren Heitner’s Forbes piece, “University of North Carolina’s Fraud Running Deeper.”

Former North Carolina Gov. Jim Martin’s full response to Heitner’s post is after the jump, but here’s his closing paragraph:

For your writers to use innuendo to accuse me of “borderline fraudulent statements” is rather harsh, given that they know nothing, and rely on one erroneous news story. Mark Twain said “If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.” He was joking about that, of course, as am I.

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Steve Kelley, who has been with the Seattle Times for 31 years, is quitting because…

* “The idea of writing newspaper stuff doesn’t thrill me anymore.”

* “I just want to do something else.”

Steve Kelley

* “I find myself at a lot more games thinking ‘I’ve written this story 411 times now. Isn’t that enough?”

* “The level of discourse [in comments sections] has become so inane and nasty.”

* “People, anonymous people, take shots at the story, writers, each other. Whatever you’ve achieved in that story gets drowned out by this chorus of idiots.”

Kelley, 63, tells Rick Anderson that he has some book and film ideas he wants to work on in his semi-retirement. (He also teaches writing to 4th graders.)

* Steve Kelley is leaving the Seattle Times “to do something else” (seattleweekly.com)
* Working in radio isn’t much fun these days either (facebook.com/JimRomenesko)

Also…
* Snail-mail commenter “executed the hat trick of racial slurs” (@jemelehill)

“We now have an archive of approximately 170 billion tweets and growing,” writes Library of Congress communications director Gayle Osterberg. “The volume of tweets the Library receives each day has grown from 140 million beginning in February 2011 to nearly half a billion tweets each day as of October 2012. …

“Although the Library has been building and stabilizing the archive and has not yet offered researchers access, we have nevertheless received approximately 400 inquiries from researchers all over the world.”

* Update on the Twitter archive at the Library of Congress (blogs.loc.gov)
* Library of Congress has no plan for public display of tweets (washingtonpost.com)
* Earlier: Library of Congress and Twitter reach tweet archival deal (usatoday.com)

Minnesota tweeps: did the Strib hire a carnival barker to join the online edit team? twitter.com/AdamMinter/sta…

— Adam Minter (@AdamMinter) January 4, 2013

Letter to Romenesko

From NANCY STOHS, Association of Food Journalists: I’m writing in hopes that you’ll help publicize our newly revamped Association of Food Journalists Awards Competition at your website.

We still have three newspaper-only categories, but most of the rest are across all publishing platforms. That includes two food blog categories, plus new categories for writing on beer, wine and spirits and on food policy/food issues, as well as a new student food writing category that’s FREE for students to enter.

The top prize in each category is $300. Entries are due (postmarked) March 1.

I’ve attached the pdfs [for contest rules and entry forms], but all are accessible from the AFJ website.

“The leading online newspaper in the world” reports that David Paterson is a former New Jersey governor.

* Ex-NJ governor’s stepdaughter flies into a psychotic rage (dailymail.co.uk)

A tweet from former Washington Times sports reporter Patrick Stevens:

Can go ahead and cross “live tweeting while being fired” off the bucket list.

— Patrick Stevens (@D1scourse) January 4, 2013

* @D1scourse (Stevens’ feed)
* Washington Times lays off staff (washingtonpost.com)

Kurson rocking out in 1987

A letter to the New York Observer staff says Ken Kurson “knows the ideas, stories and voices that make up New York better than anyone. He is a journalist and an author and through his years as a consultant observed the figures who create the framework of business, politics, media, tech, culture and real estate in our city.”

Kurson, 44, is an Esquire contributing editor, the founder of Green personal finance magazine, and a former Giuliani Partners staffer.

From Fishbowl NY:

Kurson’s Republican ties will certainly cause some to wonder (perhaps more than they already do) about the objectivity of the Observer.

Kurson, of course, thinks it’s no big deal. “People will think what they want,” he told the Times. “I will have to earn their trust. I have had a long and honorable journalistic career, calling it like I see it and being a straight shooter.”

* New York Observer resets again, names Ken Kurson editor (nytimes.com)
* Kurson: “I was a very lost and confused kid during high school” (superiorshit.blogspot.com)
* Elizabeth Spiers: “Funnily, this means that at 18 months, I’m still the 2nd longest running Obs EIC behind Peter Kaplan” (@espiers)
* Ex-NYO editor Tom Scocca: “OK, so the Observer is now in the bag for Donald Trump, Charles Kushner, AND Rudy Giuliani. This’ll go well” (@tomscocca)