Candyce Clifft of WDRB-TV in Louisville, Andrew Wolfson of The Courier-Journal in Louisville, and Mark Story of the Lexington Herald-Leader

By Al Cross
Co-adviser, UK Campus Chapter

Kentucky journalists displayed remarkable restraint in handling the allegation of rape against University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino, the leading reporters on the story said at an SPJ meeting on UK’s campus Sept. 21.

Andrew Wolfson of The Courier-Journal and Candyce Clifft of Louisville’s WDRB-TV joined sports columnist Mark Story of the Lexington Herald-Leader for a panel discussion sponsored by SPJ’s Bluegrass Professional Chapter and UK Campus Chapter.

Wolfson and Clifft said the woman making the allegations, Karen Sypher, proved to be unreliable for several reasons. “Who gives their rapist a ride home?” Wolfson asked, noting that Sypher acknowledged taking Pitino home after they had sex in a closed restaurant several years earlier. Read more »

Join the SPJ Student Chapter on Monday at noon for free pizza and a discussion with Drew Curtis, founder of news (and non-news) aggregator Fark.com and author of It’s Not News, It’s Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap as News.

After a decade of curating his site’s daily collection of links from across the Web, Curtis has a unique perspective on the challenges facing journalism, and he’s identified the next “revolution” in online media: good editing, with real editors highlighting the most important information. Fark, which Curtis runs from his Lexington home, has grown significantly since he started it in 1999 and now receives nearly 4 million visitors each month.

The program will be Monday, Oct. 5, at noon in the Kentucky Kernel newsroom, room 035 in the basement of the Grehan Journalism Building. I know some journalism classes run until 12:15, so feel free to come in after class.

If you want to read up on Curtis before Monday, you might start by checking out these sites:

• “Why the media passes off bunk as news” by Drew Curtis in The Christian Science Monitor (March 5, 2007)
• “Frat House Meets Debate Club When It’s News and It’s Fark” — live chat with Poynter’s Kelly McBride (June 22, 2009)
• “Fark Founder Flattens Fourth Estate” by Jack Shafer in Slate (Oct. 4, 2007)
• Interview with Drew Curtis from MeetInnovators