Per @sbcountyda request we are complying and will not tweet updates on #Dorner search. Watch #live coverage on #KCAL9, #CBS2, @cbsla.com

— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) February 12, 2013

The San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Office has asked the press to stop tweeting because “it is hindering officer safety.” CBS stations in San Francisco and Los Angeles have agreed to the request.

From: Parker, Jim B
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 4:11 PM
To: @KPIX News Managers; @KPIX News Producers; @KPIX News Assign. Editors; @KCBS-AM News Mgrs-News Desk
Cc: Rosenheim, Dan; Cavagnaro, Edmund W; @SF TV Radio Web
Subject: RE: Tweets About Big Bear Standoff

Update – CBS LA and CBS SF are ceasing all tweeting at this time as it relates to Dorner/Big Bear.

Earlier memo:

From: Parker, Jim B
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 3:49 PM
To: @KPIX News Managers; @KPIX News Producers; @KPIX News Assign. Editors; @KCBS-AM News Mgrs-News Desk
Cc: Rosenheim, Dan; Cavagnaro, Edmund W; @SF TV Radio Web
Subject: Tweets About Big Bear Standoff
Importance: High

FYI– The San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Office has “asked all members of the press to stop tweeting immediately. It is hindering officer safety.”

It sounds like there is concern that Dorner may be monitoring Twitter for information as he as holed up in a cabin at Big Bear.

After consulting with CBS Local VP Andy Lindenauer, we will going forward for now “tweet our coverage – but not details as to what’s happening.”

Again, just wanted to make you all aware.

Thanks,
Jim

Jim Parker
Director of Operations
CBS Local Digital Media, SF

* Ezra Klein’s “an incredible operator,” a Washington editor tells The New Republic. “You only have to watch him work a party. He moves right to the most important people there.” (newrepublic.com)
* Every journalism job should have a bonus structure, says Chris Seper. (linkedin.com)
* Why it’s smart for The Verge to publish a print edition. (pro.gigaom.com)

Chuck Todd

* Meet Chuck Todd, the Labrador retriever. (washingtonian.com)
* Tina Brown loses her iPad design director. (capitalnewyork.com)
* “Not a fake”: NYT’s John Broder defends his Tesla review. (nytimes.com) | (theatlanticwire.com)
* Donner news prompts Los Angeles Times to pull its “Southland” campaign. (apple.copydesk.com)
* Chicago journalists girding for a fight over Grid name. (timeoutchicago.com)
* “In Cold Blood” was not “immaculately factual” after all. (online.wsj.com)
* Milwaukee news director defends anchors’ store appearance for a groceries-giveaway promotion. (bizjournals.com)

* CBS receives prank call during Dorner coverage (ktar.com)
* Captain Janks – a regular caller to the Howard Stern show – did it (@captainjanks)
* Listen to his call (“You’re a real dumbass; you still don’t know this is a prank?”)

Software company Grammarly has announced the winners of its first Grammarly Awards, which go to news outlets whose stories have excellent grammar, spelling and punctuation. (It’s a cute contest — the Grammarlys come out right after the Grammys — that’s obviously designed to get publicity for the company; you’re welcome, Grammarly.)

USA Today won Grammarlys for spelling, grammar and “most accurate writing,” which is not based on accuracy of facts but rather accuracy of spelling, punctuation and grammar.

The full winners list and an email I got about how they were chosen are after the jump.

Read More

The Daily Currant (“our stories are purely fictional,” it admits) ran this on Feb. 4:

This is now on the Washington Post’s website:

Sarah Palin tweets about the Post’s error here and here.

* Washington Post erroneously reports Sarah Palin joining Al Jazeera (politico.com)
* Sarah Palin to join Al Jazeera (dailycurrant.com)
* Correction: Sarah Palin is not going to be an Al Jazeera contributor (washingtonpost.com)
* WaPo’s corrections process has improved under Marty Baron (@WaPoOmbudsman)

* New cunning linguist computer has got ancient tongues licked (theregister.co.uk)

Here is the opening of Jonah Lehrer’s speech at the Knight Foundation’s Media Learning Seminar:

“I’d like to begin by thanking the Knight Foundation for the invitation to speak. It’s a deep honor to be here before this organization dedicated to journalistic excellence. I’ve been asked to give a talk about decision-making. I’m going to focus today on bad decisions, on the causes and repercussions of failure. The failure I’ll be talking about is my own.

Jonah Lehrer at today’s event.

“For those who do not know who I am, let me give you a brief summary: I am the author of a book on creativity that contains several fabricated Bob Dylan quotes. I committed plagiaristm on my blog, taking without credit or citation an entire paragraph from the blog of Christian Jarrett. I plagiarized from myself. I lied to a journalist named Michael Moynihan to cover up the Dylan fabrications.

“My mistakes have caused deep pain to those I care about. I am constantly remembering all the people I have hurt and let down — friends, family, colleagues, my wife, my parents, my editors. I think about all the readers I’ve disappointed, people who paid good money for my book and don’t want it on their shelves. I’ve broken their trust; for that I am profoundly sorry. It is my hope that some day my transgressions might be forgiven.”

“I could stop here, but there’s a reason I want to talk today about my failures. I am convinced that unless I talk openly about what I’ve learned so far, unless I hold myself accountable in public, then the lessons will not last. I will lose the only consolation of my failure, which is the promise that I will not fail like this again, that I might one day find a way to fail better.”

“The lessons have arrived in phases. The first phase involved a literal reconstruction of my mistakes. I wanted to have an accounting in my head of how I fabricated those Dylan quotes. I wanted to understand the mechanics of every lapse, to relive all those errors that led to my disgrace. I wanted to understand so I could explain it to people, so I could explain it in a talk like this, so I could say I found the broken part and that part has a name. My arrogance; my desire for attention; my willingness to take shortcuts provided I don’t think anyone else will notice; my carelessness, matched with an ability to excuse my carelessness away; my tendency to believe my own excuses. But then, once I came up with this list of flaws, once I began to understand how these flaws led to each of my mistakes, I realized that all of my explanations changed nothing. They cannot undo what I’ve done, not even a little.”

* Read what people are tweeting about Lehrer’s talk

Gerard Baker, who replaced Robert Thomson as Wall Street Journal editor on Jan. 1, has been holding town hall-style meetings with Dow Jones employees. A Romenesko reader, who took notes during one of Baker’s sessions, sends this dispatch:

When asked who Dow Jones’ biggest competitor was, he said, “Competitor or competitors?” When the questioner kept it singular, Gerry paused for a moment then responded, “Bloomberg.” He said the answer was based on both what the company is now and what it intends to be (“they have enormous resources”). He said if it acquires the Financial Times — as expected — it will have all “the parts of the suite” to compete, meaning adding a brand that the general public/consumer has interaction with. He then cited The New York Times as another competitor for “general news.”

Gerard Baker

Gerry started out saying his goal was to maintain the lead of all of Dow Jones’ platforms, while strengthening news for B2B users (Newswires).

He noted that the Journal not only has the largest subscription base — and has grown it while the industry is going through such tumultuous times (print advertising is HALF of what it was 10 years ago) — it also has the highest “believability” rating of any newspaper — by a huge margin. He cited a recent Pew Research poll that had it up at 58 percent, compared to the New York Times’ 49% rating. He said this was the key to our success.

In response to a question about the spinoff, he said it should be completed on July 1, as planned. Although he said he understood people’s concerns about it — the news division will no longer have the more lucrative Fox News and Fox entertainment revenue to bolster it up — he said he also sees the change as being an opportunity for investment.

He mentioned video as an area he thought could be grown. Gerry said he wanted to see more “big interviews” with business leaders on WSJ’s video feed. International growth was also cited — he showed a list of Dow Jones’ foreign-language sites and services: Chinese, Japanese, German, Korean and Indonesian. He said Brazil and even London were places WSJ could penetrate more.

In response to a question about job (in)security, Gerry said the changes under way — merging Newswires and Journal bureaus — were not some stealth scheme to just to lay people off. He said the staff in some area could end up being beefed up to meet needs while others could be reduced. Bureau managers would have the final say in areas of duplication.

In response to a question about whether Dow Jones, and specifically The Wall Street Journal, is making efforts to attract younger readers, he said yes. He said MarketWatch (which isn’t behind the paywall) was a good way to introduce people to the Journal. And the addition of various sections and magazines — Greater New York, Mansion, WSJ magazine — have been instrumental in attracting new readers, yet he stressed that the Journal would not retreat on its core mission to be the world’s leading financial paper.

* Gerard Baker introduces himself to WSJ staffers (capitalnewyork.com)