Journalistic Integrity is at Stake Here

Will Feb 26, 2010 15 Comments

So, Chris Riemenschneider, the Strib’s music critic, had an item about Wilco’s Duluth concert in this week’s Vita.MN. In it, he quoted Jeff Tweedy as saying,  “This teenager came up to us and said he was mayor. We think it’s legit.”

I couldn’t help but notice this is not quite the same quote that PDDers have repeated. In the post with the picture of our fresh-faced mayor alongsideWilco, for instance, the quote is “‘teenaged boy who claims he’s the mayor.” (And I believe that post was authored by none other than our fresh-faced mayor himself, no?)

That leads me to wonder which it was. The omission of “the” before “mayor” could have been a typo on Riemenschneider’s part, but I wondered about “teenager” v. “teenaged boy,”  “said” v. “claims” and past v. present tense.

It’s no biggie, of course. I just remember that after the Sept. 4, 2007 concert, Riemenschneider reproduced Tweedy’s quote about the ore boat/fog/bridge differently than I recalled it myself. Is he just paying too close attention to the music to get quotes verbatim (which is arguably okay for a music critic)? Were the PBRs flowing too freely for anyone to take too close a notice of Tweedy’s comment? Was the concert so good no one really cares about this except me?

Discuss.

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15 Comments

gg

about 15 years ago 

Who cares?

I would advise everyone in the Zenith City to get off Wilco's d*ck.  My guess is that all of the comments made by Jeff Tweedy in Madison were meant tongue-in-cheek and alas, the joke is on us.  For once Duluth, be cool.

wildgoose

about 15 years ago 

Right back 'atcha there, GG. Be cool.  This 'controversy' is all tongue in cheek, too. Why not have a little fun with our quirky story in the quasi-national news limelight?  Especially when the story has nothing to do with exercise balls or a guy getting arrested for trespassing on his own land.  Those were two of the big non-news, news stories out of Duluth last year.

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago 

Christa was there and quoted Tweedy as saying: "A teenaged boy came up to us and said he was the mayor. He gave it to us. We think it is legit." 

She wrote it down as he said it and then texted it to me immediately afterward, so I trust that that is the actual quote.

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago 

Speaking of which...


Duluth Mayor Don Ness saw Madison's imitation as a sincere form of flattery.

"It's cute that Madison has made the effort to keep up with us," Ness said. "I love Madison; it's a great city — they can feel free to steal my ideas any time and put them to good use."

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz responded that there were no hard feelings between the two cities.

"When you're Duluth, you need something," he said. "And this is something. ... I congratulate Duluth for being on top of this key city issue."

Calk

about 15 years ago 

I think this whole rivalry is hilarious in a good way. The media coverage makes Duluth sound like a hip and vibrant city -- and having a "teenage" mayor helps. 

@Will, re the slightly different quotes (and I am sure Christa is the one who got it right), that's happened to me before, and unless it really changes the story, i don't get too uptight about it, either way.

Drifter

about 15 years ago 

The trend of starting a blog post with "So, [declarative sentence]" is much more irritating than a journalist's slightly altering the wording of a quote without changing the speaker's original sentiment.

mevdev

about 15 years ago 

Sounds like we need to overturn some cars to show Madison that we too, are quite strong.

PEN

about 15 years ago 

Chris Riemenschneider is nut!

Don Ness

about 15 years ago 

Christa's quote is accurate.  My use of quotes was not to reference a quote but to reference a nickname.  Sort of like James "Buster" Douglas.  It was: Don "the teenaged boy who claims he's the mayor" Ness

Is this whole thing ridiculous?  Of course it is!  It was designed to be - I reference "musician-sized lumberjacks" in the first line of the proclamation.  That should be the first indication that this was just for fun.

Calk

about 15 years ago 

I thought the part where Mayor Ness declared Wilco could participate in Homegrown as long as they don't suck was spot on.

tony

about 15 years ago 

If anyone thinks that Duluth being talked about with Madison and now Chicago in the same breath as a band like Wilco doesn't do anything to up our cache...who knows, maybe some new bands will take a trip up here due to this press.

Plus, it's clearly a fun, jokey thing. How can anyone not get that?

Starfire

about 15 years ago 

GG. All press is good press and this is great press for Duluth. Why people are getting ruffled about this I will never understand.

lojasmo

about 15 years ago 

Will is clearly a pedant.

gg

about 15 years ago 

Well put lojasmo.

vicarious

about 15 years ago 

Outrage! Pure, feigned outrage! Good God, how can we continue as a society with such injustice?!

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