Reporter On The Roxanne Shante Story Chimes In... Sorta
from the well,-well dept
So, yesterday, we published our report noting that the NY Daily News story about Roxanne Shante supposedly earning a PhD from Cornell didn't appear to be fact checked at all, and in checking the facts, we found that almost none of them checked out. I had contacted the Daily News asking them to put me in touch with the reporter on the story, Walter Dawkins, but had not heard back until about an hour ago. Someone claiming to be Dawkins called me (and a call to his phone turned up voicemail claiming to be Dawkins), saying that he heard about me looking into the story from an unidentified "Dan from Cornell" (not from the Daily News, so apparently separate from my request) and wanted to see what I had found out and if there was any more beyond what I had written. So I told him that I had written everything I had found out, but I was more curious in finding out from him if he had done any fact checking at all on the story, and could he back up any of the things in the story that didn't check out.From there, the call got... weird. First he just started listing off the already debunked sources of the Cornell Magazine (I'm guessing he meant the Cornell Chronicle) and that alum list which was obviously wrong, since it was from '91, well before Shante claimed to have attended Cornell. Then he said he heard about it on a "Hot97 interview." Then there was a pause, and he suddenly got quite agitated, saying he had to "get out of here" and then, "I know what you're doing! No recording, no writing stuff down. Everything I just said is OFF THE RECORD." Of course, that's not how it works. If you have something to tell a reporter "off the record," you establish that first. And I pointed out that surely he, as a professional reporter, knows that. I won't reprint his response, because I guess we can assume that everything after that point in the call was, technically, "off the record" but I can say that he never answered a single question and that most of the rest of the call had him insisting that he had nothing to say to me, followed by me pointing out that he was the one who called me, not the other way around. Eventually, the call ended with him hanging up on me and refusing to answer any of the questions I asked. He did, at one point, promise me an official statement later, but I'm not holding my breath.
Meanwhile, Shante also has been responding oddly, telling one blog that she was just "going to let it go," and posting on Twitter that "in 3days I will rise again everything is temporary today's gossip is tomorrow's deleted messages." Apparently, 'fessing up isn't in the cards.
But, of course, we need those big important newspapers with their professional reporters and fact checkers, or the blogs would run wild with lies, right?
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Filed Under: fact checking, roxanne shante, walter dawkins
Companies: ny daily news
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Yet another example of...
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Re: Yet another example of...
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Okay....IF that was really Dawkins....
"Dawkins called me saying that he heard about me looking into the story from an unidentified "Dan from Cornell""
...mmkay, and did you ask who the fuck he was talking about? Did he say it like those really ditzy girls do where they just use first names and loose associations and just assume that because THEY know who they're referring to then you must to, because after all, who they know is, like, crazy imporant and stuff? This explanation of how he heard about your post sounds fishy.
"and wanted to see what I had found out and if there was any more beyond what I had written"
Oh, so he's an openly sharing information guy. Well, that's nice of him. Good of you to tell him everything you found out, too.
"but I was more curious in finding out from him if he had done any fact checking at all on the story, and could he back up any of the things in the story that didn't check out"
Well that's fair. You basically asked him the same thing he asked you. I smell a wonderful sharing of information amongst peers! Yaaay!
"First he just started listing off the already debunked sources of the Cornell Magazine"
Uh oh. Hope....fading....wish for....better news....
"Then he said he heard about it on a "Hot97 interview.""
....no way. He didn't really say that, did he? He said to you that one of his sources of information was from what I can assume was a radio interview. As a source. Of information, as opposed to terrible music. Naaaaah, no way. No way, because any journalist who managed to bang his TA long enough to scrape a passing grade through his college courses would know how ridiculous that is and would want to flee from the conversation immediately.
"Then there was a pause, and he suddenly got quite agitated, saying he had to "get out of here" and then, "I know what you're doing! No recording, no writing stuff down. Everything I just said is OFF THE RECORD.""
.....dammit, it WAS true. And my explanation of how he passed his classes is clearly the only one that makes any sense, given his lack of understanding of how "The Record" works.
"Meanwhile, Shante also has been responding oddly, telling one blog...that "in 3days I will rise again..."
....[speechless]....
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Hilarious.
Keep it comin' Mr. Dawkins!
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Job Opening
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Re: Re: Yet another example of...
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How Stuff Works
Yeah, because that's clearly how the Internet works. It would be different if there were gigabytes of storage somwhere on devices that could "serve" that stored data for decades to come, and some kind of free tools that would index and find information associated to key words, no matter how obscure. Of course, that would only make an impact if many people had access to a network and had devices to render that information. But, alas, no.
The Internets are just a modern version of the town cryer: loud for a ephemeral instant, mere echoes just seconds later.
You go Shante. I'm glad you're not a real Cornell grad - we already have to suffer the indignity of Andy from "The Office". I'll just add you to the list of fictional Alums that don't make the school proud.
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Re: Okay....IF that was really Dawkins....
Shante the anti-christ?
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Re: Re: Okay....IF that was really Dawkins....
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Re: Re: Re: Okay....IF that was really Dawkins....
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Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2009/08/23/2009-08-23_rapper_schools_record_label_qns_ma_ makes_warner_music_foot_bill_for_phd.html#ixzz0Q5af9kUb
wtf
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Okay....IF that was really Dawkins....
Like John the Baptiste, perhaps?
Or the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Or encased sausage?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Okay....IF that was really Dawkins....
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Okay....IF that was really Dawkins....
He's Dark Joker now.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Okay....IF that was really Dawkins....
The truth is that there are so few good Dark Helmet photos out there....
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Re: Job Opening
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Re:
Ignore the fact that blogs are the one that corrected you and blogs are the ones that came to the correct story before you and you simply FREELOADED off of blogs and act like you are the one initiated the original research and blogs simply parasite off of you. Give no credit to the blogs whatsoever but expect them to give you credit. HOW PATHETIC.
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um, ouch
So.Bad.
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Confirmation?
Also, do a search for this guy. This is like the only story he has ever written and he doesn't have his own website, so I assume he's just a music fan or a blogger of some kind.
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Or...
Basic Public Relations Writing
X50.9293/$785
S Sec. 1: Wed. 6.30–9 p.m., Sept. 23–Nov. 18
(8 sessions). No class Nov. 11. Walter Dawkins
,
journalist whose work has appeared in the
New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek,
Variety, and others; public relations at EMI
Records and the NBA.
http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:uG8Hq0Bt8jgJ:www.scps.nyu.edu/export/sites/scps/pdf/bul letin/fall-2009/scps-pr.pdf+Walter+Dawkins+journalist&cd=35&hl=zh-TW&ct=clnk&gl=hk&a mp;client=firefox-a
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dance
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dance
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dance
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