newsobserver.com projects - Carla Babb - Comments

Re: Fact-checking Carla Babb, Part II

kjel — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:39:43 -0400

But one of the (many) problems with the student's report is that it never attempts to answer the legitimate question you ask: why the campaign rented space in Southern Village instead of someplace that might be more convenient for visitors (like downtown Raleigh) or more emblematic (like downtown Mayberry).

If the reporter had asked that question, viewers could at least consider Edwards' reasons for placing his headquarters in Southern Village and could evaluate his reasons against the critic's arguments. Instead, the story is framed around the criticism, and the only comments from the campaign come from a young volunteer - who doesn't address the question you raised.

That's one of the reasons the story seems unbalanced, even though the reporter (and her professors) can nominally claim to have interviewed two people with contrasting views.

Re: Fact-checking Carla Babb, Part II

Proctor — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 06:03:49 -0400

You know, journalists are not obliged to stick to one original focus of a news story or interview if some other aspect of the story begins to take on greater interest for some reason. And the fact is that the selection of Southern Village for a North Carolina state headquarters for the Edwards presidential campaign is an interesting and curious choice and a natural subject of inquiry by good journalists.

It's quite a wonderful community, but let's face it: for national or state press folks visitng or stationed in Raleigh, Durham or Chapel Hill, Southern Village is not simple or easy to reach in terms of time required. So somebody needed to raise that question about the campaign, and Carla Babb did so for the benefit of Edwards supporters and opponents alike who might wish to know why the campaign did not take out space in one of the main business districts of downtown Chapel Hill, Durham or Raleigh. Or at least in the next block past Goober's Garage or Floyd's Barber Shop in Mayberry.

But the clue to all of this could be in the location of the Giuliani campaign in New York: maybe, when it comes to selected a well-situated headquarters for a major presidential campaign, north or south, it--er, "it takes a village..."

Re: Fact-checking Carla Babb, Part II

twoshadesofblue — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 17:22:15 -0400

Q. How many journalists does it take to realize that Carla Babb's "Carolina Week" piece is awful?
A. None. They just wait for readers to do it for them...?

Come on. The piece is full of unsubstantiated generalizations from her and her sources, declares "it's up to the voters to decide" as though the election will be a referendum on Southern Village campaign headquarters, and relies on two "experts" who don't know what they're talking about and aren't representative of anyone before concluding "Opinions are split". As journalists, this just has to make you cringe...

Re: Fact-checking Carla Babb's piece

twoshadesofblue — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 17:09:40 -0400

Perhaps we should give Carla more credit? Perhaps she's brilliantly satirizing television journalism?

Because that's the only scenario in which I can imagine journalism professors defending this piece as high quality, balanced, or accurate.

If this is great journalism, or even passable student journalism, then what a truly low bar we've set.

Re: Fact-checking Carla Babb's piece

editaur — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:05:28 -0400

I, too, don't think the piece was unfair. But it was kind of silly, as it was based on a specious premise, and that's the reason it should have been graded down.

The fact that John Edwards has his campaign HQ in Chapel Hill signifies nothing. Most of the presidential contenders have campaign headquarters in the cities where they (ostensibly) live. Romney's is in Boston -- where it was burglarized last month, in fact -- Giuliani's is in New York City, Biden's is in Wilmington DE, Thompson's is in Nashville, and Obama's is in Chicago. Clinton's is unusual in that it's in suburban DC.

Before making any kind of assumption about the "meaning" of Edwards' location, Babb should have checked the common practice among candidates.

That's silly . . . and irrelevant

Anglico — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:56:57 -0400

The story was factually wrong. And the entire premise of the story was based on a factual error.

Re: Fact-checking Carla Babb's piece

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:10:58 -0400

Poetic, maybe, but poets are a bit more versatile.

Case in point: "Diamonds from Sierra Leone."

Kanye West raps about conflict diamonds, civil strife in Africa, his conflicted feelings about bling, etc.

And then Jay-Z takes the mic and raps about ... how he used to sell drugs.

Was he even listening to Kanye?

— RTB

Re: Fact-checking Carla Babb's piece

Forget_not_the_children — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:54:07 -0400

Just because Million dollars homes are not currently on the market in Southern Village does not mean that there are not million dollar homes in Southern Village--it just means that the folks that own them are not selling them.

Averages are averages and Southern Village is a development with multiple levels of housing price levels located in it...thus the lower average.

Southern Village might not be the most affluent, but it is glitsy, well designed and innovative.

Well that speaks volumes

Anglico — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:45:09 -0400

Searching for "balance" in the face of factual inaccuracy! Pretty darn sad.

Re: Fact-checking Carla Babb's piece

greenlamp — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:34:51 -0400

Jay-Z is definitly a poet....

Re: Fact-checking Carla Babb's piece

kjel — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:21:20 -0400

Thanks to Dr. Meyer for pointing out what anybody who has been house-hunting in Chapel Hill already knows: that it's laughable to call Southern Village "the most affluent area" in town.

A quick check of the Triangle Area Residential Realty report (easily findable online) shows the average selling price of Southern Village homes for the first six months of 2007 was $374,415 - above the citywide average of $330,369 - but well below such neighborhoods as Meadowmont ($897,537), Lake Hogan Farms ($548,570), Lakespur ($660,937), and Ironwoods ($461,345).

Was this error noticed by the professors who "stand by" the student's report? And why haven't the journalists who've written about this controversy in the N&O, the New York Times, and elsewhere pointed out that the premise of the student's report is flawed?

Re: Fact-checking Carla Babb's piece

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:21:00 -0400

Also, Jay-Z is not technically "a poet."

Nas, maybe.

— RTB

Re: Fact-checking Carla Babb's piece

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:20:15 -0400

One of Dome's colleagues asked about this, so we'll tackle it here.

In his e-mail, Meyer said he was defining Chapel Hill by U.S. Postal Service addresses, not by town limits. Under that definition, Governor's Club is part of Chapel Hill.

Hope that helps.

— RTB

Re: Taking lessons from Carla?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:16:26 -0400

Babb's professor, C.A. Tuggle, backs her, as does Leroy Towns. Tuggle said he showed the piece to several of his colleagues and none of them thought it was unbalanced.

— RTB

Re: Fact-checking Carla Babb's piece

chloe03 — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:02:00 -0400

Another example of Phil Meyer doing what he does best: crunching numbers and crushing students' egos.