so much for fact-checking...

**SincereCorgi** · Mar-26-2011, 1:28pm

http://www.azdailysun.com/news/local...cc4c002e0.html

**allenhopkins** · Mar-26-2011, 1:29pm

Yeah, I had a "mandolin" like that, but I called it a "banjo." As a result, I suffered years of verbal abuse.

**P.D. Kirby** · Mar-26-2011, 1:35pm

Hopefully this post won't violate the forum rules and if it does I am sorry.

My feelings are that this is the sad state of Journalism in this and other Countries personified. Facts? We don't need no stinking facts!!!

**jaycat** · Mar-26-2011, 9:23pm

Hey, it's Arizona.

**journeybear** · Mar-26-2011, 9:53pm

Considering how many times we get asked, "What is that, a banjo?", this is one step toward evening the score.

**George R. Lane** · Mar-26-2011, 9:57pm

After spending 30 years as a newspaper photographer, I am disgusted with this photographer. I was taught to ask questions, especially if I was unsure about the subject matter. The most important was the proper spelling of their name. If there is some kind of prop, what is it a banjo, mandolin or a flute. This guy looks like an idiot and he makes people think all newspeople are idiots. I can assure you for every idiot there are a 100 good hardworking reporters and photographers.

http://helenair.com/app/slideshows/1...orge/standard/
This is a link to my final slideshow for the paper I worked at.
Take a look and give me your thoughts.

Thanks.

**Brett Byers** · Mar-26-2011, 10:12pm

incredible work George, and great picking too! Lots of familiar sights in that slideshow, and quite a few new ones as well. I'd love to pick your brain about some of those shots and the stories behind them, especially the UFO attack of Helena!

btw... Dan and I are headed up to Craig tomorrow for a few hours in the afternoon if the weather holds out. (snow is fine, rain is bad). Word is the midges are starting to cluster, and it should be getting really good any day now. If you have some free time you should come down to the river.

**George R. Lane** · Mar-26-2011, 10:16pm

Brett,
I have heard the same thing. I too am planning to go up by the dam and drift a few nymphs.
Good luck

p.s. - The Air Force won't let me talk about that photo. Something about national security.

**Brett Byers** · Mar-26-2011, 10:18pm

We'll look for you up there, but we'll be wetting our flies further downstream, probably on the SW end of the big island upstream from Craig

**John Flynn** · Mar-27-2011, 2:22am

Great work George, both on camera and mandolin. It was a real treat to experience that.

**mrmando** · Mar-27-2011, 2:45am

Ah, my hometown paper strikes another blow. There were not many mandolin players in Flagstaff when I was growing up ... not highly visible ones, anyway, although I understand Tom Rozum lived there for a few years in the 1970s. (Last time I was in town, Tom and Laurie Lewis were also there to play a gig.) A guy in my church would pick one once in a while, and my high school string teacher loaned me his bowlback for a recording project, but that was pretty much it.

The Daily Sun is and always has been an independent, hometown, small-market paper (I think Flagstaff's population is around 60,000-65,000 now). Given economic conditions both nationwide and in the state, not to mention the pressures on newspapers because of changes in the way we obtain information, I'm a bit surprised that the Sun is still in circulation, let alone hiring photographers who have read the Grove Dictionary of Music.

The photographer did remember to get the names of the individuals in the photo, but one of three things happened: 1) he was so confident that the instrument was a mandolin that he didn't bother to confirm it; 2) he forgot to ask, and he and the copy editor had to guess when he got back to the office; 3) he had it right, but the copy editor mistakenly changed it.

Of course, things would have been a lot worse if the dude in the photo had been playing a mandolin and the caption called it a banjo!

**John Flynn** · Mar-27-2011, 2:55am

Here's another example from when a local paper covered our session for St. Patrick's Day two weeks ago. That's me in the foreground with the tenor banjo, tuned GDAE, of course! "Irish Jam?" Argggh! We told the reporter like five times it was called a session and not a jam.

Click image for larger version.

Name: Irish_Session_article_top_16_March_2011.jpg
Views: 106
Size: 180.7 KB
ID: 70202

**swampstomper** · Mar-27-2011, 3:11am

John, that's a headline problem... "session" won't fit in the headline, so very likely the layout editor changed to "jam" w/o the reporter even knowing. I love the sub-heading "Musicians find outlet for passion"... not "their passion for music"... (also because of the layout edit, I'd wager)

George, I really liked the slideshow. Wow you are indeed a professional! But not a mandolin in sight (only in sound).

**John Flynn** · Mar-27-2011, 3:34am

Yeah, I know about the layout thing. I used to be a magazine editor and I also taught media communications at two universities. I kept examples of badly written headlines to show my classes. I feel strongly that writers should take the time to look at the layouts of their articles AND layout people should read the articles carefully. The "session" thing was discussed in the body of the article, BTW. This was the Butler Country Eagle, for heaven's sake! The layout guy's desk is probably 20 feet from the reporter's desk. How hard could a little cross-checking be? This was only mildly annoying, but harmless. However, it makes one wonder about what can happen with more serious stories.

**Bertram Henze** · Mar-27-2011, 4:18am

Originally Posted by John Flynn

"Irish Jam?" Argggh!

Actually, Irish jam does exist...

...and even with the right ingredients!

**journeybear** · Mar-27-2011, 8:45am

Next - Whiskey In A Jar!

Originally Posted by mrmando

Of course, things would have been a lot worse if the dude in the photo had been playing a mandolin and the caption called it a banjo!

Exactamundo! And why this actually made me chuckle rather than grimace or grumble.

BTW, guys, I wouldn't take the photographer to task for this gaffe so much as the copy editor or whomever wrote the caption.

**TheMandoKit** · Mar-27-2011, 9:28am

Originally Posted by mrmando

The photographer did remember to get the names of the individuals in the photo, but one of three things happened: 1) he was so confident that the instrument was a mandolin that he didn't bother to confirm it; 2) he forgot to ask, and he and the copy editor had to guess when he got back to the office; 3) he had it right, but the copy editor mistakenly changed it.

Well, there is one other possibility...the photographer asked, and the banjo player thought to himself "Here's how I get back for all the banjo jokes" and said, "It's a mandolin, dude!"

Just sayin' ......

**Randi Gormley** · Mar-27-2011, 9:55am

On our paper, the photographer writes the captions. And they have to write the corrections, too. Another thought is the banjo player also had a mandolin (stretching it, but still), and they confused the picture captions. Just a thought. I'm certainly not excusing the mistake, of course. Errors make everybody look bad.

**Santiago** · Mar-27-2011, 10:08am

People make mistakes. Journalists aren't supposed to, but they're human (whether or not they admit it). If he's like most of the reporter/photographers I know, this dumb error will really gnaw away at him much more than it annoys us. You only get one chance to get it right... it's like a performance. How many of us have never made an error during a performance?

**Markus** · Mar-27-2011, 10:15am

George, beautiful work with the camera. Some of those are really stunning, perfect shots.

As for the quality of photographer one gets - it's sure a mixed bag. There's been all sorts of protests here last month, and observing the out-of-town newspeople, TV, and photographers has been an education with a few talented people rising to the top and innumerable mistakes and bad journalism.

It's quite alarming about how poorly most is done, how rare someone like George and the others who `do it the right way' are. They are definitely out there, but they are outnumbered.

My compliments to those who get it right - especially those who can create a perfect, artistic image while getting the facts right. Great photojournalism is hard.

Now I need to figure out how to convince my wife to visit the Helena are, see this beauty for myself.

**mandomurph** · Mar-27-2011, 10:55am

Really nice photos, George. Some great action shots too. A capture of American life. The only thing missing is a photo of a jam session. But I guess you can't play and take photos at the same time. At least I can't.

**carolinamark** · Mar-27-2011, 11:15am

VERY impressive stuff there George. I enjoyed it very much.

**GDAE** · Mar-27-2011, 11:16am

George, that was beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

**George R. Lane** · Mar-27-2011, 11:32am

Thank you for the kind words. I took up the mandoin about a year before I retired and never had played in a jam session. Hence no mando pics. At my paper the photographers wrote their own captions and submitted them to the layout editors. So if there was any concern we took care of it there and then. I had great editors to work with.
Marcus, you will always get the good and the bad in any breaking national news story. I saw it when (Dallas actor) Patrick Duffys' parents were murdered in a little town 30 miles from here and when the Unabomber story happened here. Some good guys to work with and some real scumbags. I always considered myself to be a historian more than a newsman. Since I never went to a journalism school.