As first reported by AAN News in January, OC Weekly News and Investigations Editor Nick Schou has written a book about Gary Webb, the late investigative reporter who penned the "Dark Alliance" series exploring connections between the CIA and crack cocaine. In Kill the Messenger, Schou alleges that Webb's editors at the San Jose Mercury News made the decision to focus his series on the CIA link against Webb's wishes. Schou also criticizes national newspapers for their treatment of Webb: "So much of the reporting was personal and an attack on Gary Webb, it was unbelievable," he tells Editor & Publisher. Kill the Messenger will be published by Nation Books in October.
His fabrications in The Village Voice were "neither culturally significant nor journalistically shocking," Philadelphia City Paper founder and former owner Bruce Schimmel writes in his weekly column, and the disciplinary actions that resulted were "a shot across the bow of the mother ship of New Journalism." But Duane Swierczynski uses his editor's letter to disagree: "If we're not vigilant about separating truth from fiction, can you imagine what schoolkids will be saying about George W. Bush in 200 years?" Fabrications are too often rewarded, and editors who prod writers for amazing dialogue need to be equally passionate about checking accuracy, Swierczynski argues.
The Village Voice removed this week's cover piece, "Do You Wanna Kiss Me?" from its Web site after learning that Senior Associate Editor Nick Sylvester invented a scene in the story. According to an editor's note posted on the Web site, Sylvester lied about meeting three TV writers in a bar to discuss pickup techniques. Sylvester admits that the "scene was a composite of specific anecdotes" and says he "deeply regret[s] this misinformation." The Voice has begun a review of the entire story.
According to Publisher/Editor Will Swaim, News and Investigations Editor Nick Schou will pen a biography of Gary Webb, the late investigative journalist, for Nation Books. Webb is best known for his San Jose Mercury News "Dark Alliance" series, which explored links between the CIA, Nicaraguan contras, and crack cocaine. Webb worked briefly at the Sacramento News and Review before his suicide in 2004. Schou has reported on the controversy over the "Dark Alliance" series in several articles for OC Weekly.
One of the youngest winners of a 2005 AltWeekly Award is Nick Goodenough, whose column for Ventura County Reporter, "Nick at Night," took first place for photography in the small-paper division. In an interview with AAN intern Lindsay Kishter, Goodenough explains how he managed to take photos on packed dance floors without blurring his subjects or losing his grip on his camera. This is the first in a series titled "How I Got That Story" that will highlight the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
