Say all the bad things you want about television news. At least if Peter Jennings says something that makes you angry, there is no way you`re going to walk away from the TV set muttering, ”I hate that Tom Brokaw.” If the guy on the screen says it, he`s the one who gets the blame.
You say it`s the same way in newspapers? Then you weren`t here last Wednesday.
I had a column in Wednesday`s paper about a chain of high-class diners that was selling shares in a limited partnership for $100,000 a pop. When The Tribune came out Wednesday morning, though, I started getting calls. People wanted to know why Steve Daley`s column was in my space.
I appear here Sundays through Wednesdays. Daley, who writes about television and other media matters, appears here on Thursdays. At first I thought the callers must be confused. But then I asked them what Daley had written about. They said, ”About some chain of diners offering shares for $100,000.”
Huh?
I called one of my editors. ”We know, we know,” he said. ”It was a production mistake. We caught it early.”
”How early?” I said.
”Uh …” he said.
”How early?” I repeated.
”We got your logo into about half the press run,” he said.
”Half the press run?” I said. ”You mean the other half has my column under Daley`s logo?”
”I think so,” the editor said.
”So you`re saying that hundreds of thousands of copies of The Tribune have my column under Daley`s name and picture?” I said.
”I think that`s right,” the editor said.
Well. First of all, I am a tremendous admirer of Steve Daley`s writing. He is one of the brightest and most perceptive people I know, and I try never to miss his stories. But, as I said … at least when a television anchorman says something, you know that he said it. When a newspaper switches column logos, things get confusing.
On page 2 of the main news section last Wednesday, under ”Corrections and clarifications,” there was this note:
”In some copies of the Tempo section of today`s Tribune, Steve Daley`s name appears incorrectly over Bob Greene`s column. The Tribune regrets the error.”
(There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that certain people here at the paper wanted the correction to read: ”In some copies of the Tempo section of today`s Tribune, Steve Daley`s name appears incorrectly over Bob Greene`s column. The Tribune apologizes to Mr. Daley.”)
I called Daley to see what he thought we should do about this. After all, not everyone reads the ”Corrections and clarifications” section. It turned out that Daley was in New Hampshire, reporting on the presidential primary campaign. I reached him in his hotel room.
”Yeah, I heard,” Daley said.
I asked him how he felt about this.
”I don`t know,” he said. ”Was your column any good today?”
”Who knows?” I said. ”The point is, do you really want hundreds of thousands of people thinking that my words are yours?”
”This is the second time this has happened to me,” Daley said. ”Back when I was doing a sports column for the paper, one day they put my logo over Bob Verdi`s column. I sent Verdi a note saying that the next time the paper nominated him for a Pulitzer, they should include that column.”
I asked him-in all seriousness-if he thought one of us should explain in print what had happened. He said that although the snafu was a minor matter in the grand scheme of things, he thought an explanation might be a good idea. After all, we`re both in the business of putting words on paper. No one wants readers to think that his words belong to someone else, or vice versa.
”It is kind of an eerie feeling,” Daley said. ”I`m trying not to think about it. I`m trying to pretend it didn`t happen.”
There`s no guarantee that we`ll get this right even now, of course. Just to be doubly sure: My name is Mr. Greene. I hope that the logo above today`s column features my name and my picture. The other fellow`s name is Steve Daley. There should be a picture of Daley somewhere in the middle of this column.
I was just thinking, though. From now on if you read a column of mine that you don`t like? I didn`t write it. Daley did.
