The Nashville Scene relates how its former reporter faced a barrage of mistakes on the Feb. 13 episode of Nancy Grace. Stern, who now teaches journalism, was invited on the show to discuss an old murder case that he reported on in 1997. According to Scene Editor Liz Garrigan (and Stern's brother, who wrote about the show on his blog), Grace forgot details of the case, mixed up Southern states and cities, and referred to Stern as one of their reporters, which he hasn't been for several years. ("Not that we wouldn't love to claim him," Garrigan writes.) Garrigan also notes that CNN misspelled Stern's name as "Willie" in the show's transcript.
Nashville TV news reporter James Lewis recently ended a segment on an undercover prostitution sting by claiming that the Nashville police department arrested a McDonald's employee for selling a Big Mac to a hooker, thereby violating a law against "giving nutrition to a prostitute." Turns out Lewis was a victim of Google -- which he used to find the December 2004 Nashville Scene humor column in which the apocryphal anecdote was reported -- and his own credulity, which prevented him from recognizing obvious signs that the piece was a joke. Like, for instance, the fact that the column is called "The Fabricator." Lewis tells the Scene that it all worked out for the best since he wants to get into the real estate business anyway.
In the wake of an ad salesperson's arrest on charges of promoting prostitution, the Scene has suspended the personal adult services section of its classified pages. During the suspension, incoming publisher Chris Ferrell will thoroughly review the paper's procedures for running such ads. The decision was made after an undercover police investigation resulted in the arrest of Nels Noseworthy, the Scene's adult ad salesperson, office assistant and receptionist. The probe has its roots in a crackdown on prostitution that began in the late '90s, writes Scene reporter Matt Pulle.
