Globe Columnist Rues Barstool Interview

Journalism is a risky business these days, with much of the media
reporting on iteself in a serpentine circle jerk of objectivity, accountability
and maoistic self-criticsm. What’s a columnist to do when a seemingly
reliable source turns out to be a high-school teacher arrested a week
earlier for posting nude pictures of himself on the internet?

Well, Joan, I guess that’s what you get when you try to do your
research from a bar stool at Cheers. In her Nov. 6th column Joan Vennochi
quoted extensively
a "smart, articulate, and knowledgeable" 22-year-old guy named Michael
Everett.

"I think Dean is a better matchup against Bush. He will fight
harder," Everett says.

As a little boy growing up in the South, Everett owned Confederate flags. "It’s
part of Southern heritage," he says. As a young adult living and
working in the Northeast, he says he understands why the symbol of the
Confederacy and slavery is viewed as abhorrent and divisive. But he also
knows bigots don’t always signal their intent with decals – and you can
find them in Massachusetts as well as in Louisiana, in Saabs and BMWs
as well as in Ford pickups. He didn’t find Dean’s remark racist, just
clumsy.

"Democrats need Southern white votes, " he says, explaining the difficulty
of winning the presidency without winning the South as ably as any seasoned
political operative.

As Joan belatedly discovered, Everett was more newsworthy than she
suspected. Check out today’s
column,

According to the Brockton Police Department, Charles M. Everett, who
uses the first name Michael, was arrested on Oct. 23. According to David
Farrell, communications director for Brockton’s Mayor John Yunits, Everett
allegedly posted nude pictures of himself on the Internet. Farrell said
Everett was fired from his teaching position at Brockton High School.
He is scheduled to appear in Brockton District Court on Dec. 10 for a
pretrial conference. At his arraignment, he was released on personal
recognizance, with the condition that he stay away and have no contact
with students, faculty or the facilities of the Brockton School Department.

How much heat will Joan take on this one? Hard to tell.  It certainly
isn’t a deliberate pattern of deception a la Jason Blair. However, in
these tense and paranoid times any deviation from the Major Media journalistic
code of ethics may be considered a capital offense. She certianly
did the right thing in going immediately in print with a cute explanation.
Only time will tell how seriously the Boston Globe treats this gaffe.

today’s Globe column