Back to Slater...

San Francisco Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius talked about the whole Eric Slater in Chico incident in his column today:

A textbook case of bad reporting

In it, he talks to Dr. Bleske, and refers to the letter and documentation that he, myself and Dave Waddell put together compiling Slater's ethical lapses and factual errors that was sent in to the Times.

They got some really good quotes from Dr. Bleske, too:

Journalism Professor Glen Bleske compiled a list of suspicious circumstances in the story and sent it with a letter to the Times; it was not published, nor did he get a response. "If he was (here), he didn't do much reporting," Bleske told me.

*skipping ahead*

"I know this,'' said journalism professor Bleske. "I am going to use this story in my class for at least the next decade. He's given me a great teaching tool."

Having taken News Editing and Copyreading with Dr. Bleske (although, if you read this blog, it will be hard to tell because I try to type too flippin' fast. My fault, not his.), I can just imagine how that class is going to go.

Beyond Dr. Bleske, there was something of interest in here from Connie Huyck, the Greek advisor:

In fact, it is hard to find anyone Slater spoke with. He certainly didn't talk to Zingg -- who is still steamed -- until after the story appeared, when Slater called to apologize.

The exception seems to be Connie Huyck, the program coordinator for Greek life on campus. Huyck says Slater called her on her cell phone but when the interview started badly she suggested they meet in person, assuming he was in Chico.

"I can't,'' she said Slater told her. "I am working on another story.''

...W...T...F... (grammatical technical foul on LaHue for improper use of ellipses, but I think it looks better, and this my blog, so neener neener neener.)

This is really interesting (I should also note the competative reporter side of me is kicking myself for not event thinking of talking to Connie). If Slater came all the way from Los Angeles to Chico (472 miles apart according to Yahoo! Maps, I would personally push it a little closer to 500) to work on the story, why would he be working on another story simultaneously while in Chico?

I'm not throwing that question out in a sarcastic manner. I honestly want to know why he would come all the way to Chico and spend the time working on something else. I mean, I've worked on multiple stories at the same time. But I'm under the impression if you go on a trip from your home base, you're going to be setting some priority on the story that neccesitated a trip that long in the first place.

It's also important to note that it takes some effort to get from L.A. to Chico. The drive will be a good 8 hours, even on Slater's new BMW motorcycle (likely much more, never made that drive since I'm from up north). He could also fly, but even that takes genuine effort, since there's no direct flight between Los Angeles (LAX) and Chico (CIC). United is the only airline that goes into Chico, and every flight out of Chico goes to only one airport: San Francisco (SFO).

So that conversation with Connie definitly adds a new wrinkle to the whole thing.