Robert Caro gives Hathway a lot of credit, too, for shaping him as an investigative reporter. But let’s not forget that Hathway supported an outrageous Robert Moses plan to build a highway on Fire Island. Hathway owned property there, and he would probably have profited from the purchase of land to build that road. Building plots at his Lighthouse Shores enterprise were not selling well, and the Moses highway would have helped. Happily, Alicia Patterson realized how bad an idea that was, and Newsday ultimately did not support it. In effect, she was fact-checking Hathway. In my worst-selling history of Newsday, I have a whole chapter on this less-than admirable aspect of Hathway. It’s called “The Fire Island Connection.” Ironically, Caro used the investigative skills that he credits Hathway with building in him, and he turned those skills on Moses., in his masterful, best-selling book, “The Power Broker.”
Fredd (sorry, that should be Fred), you never disappoint. I've said more than once that I'm glad I did newspapering when I did. Your Stony Brook tale reminds me of Paul Schreiber's Accuracy Fs in the class we shared: One error (other than grammatical, ya know) and a paper would earn an F. Hard for teachers to mete out, but I bet the students remember!
Phil -- I checked with Mom. "No comment," she said.
Thanks, Peter. Free press keeps us free. Cheers/fb
...and how important the First Amendment.
We were lucky to be in the newsroom, all of us, Gwen.
Team teaching, oh, those fortunate young people.
Worth a second look, Sue. Juice the volume.
Sidney -- The city room was once a center of negative reinforcement. Not good for mental health, excellent for journalism.
I had the Schreiber angle in column but had to cut. Accuracy-F legendary. He was a softie, though, and always gave a second chance.
Thanks for perspective, Bob.
You should have been an editor.
Roberta -- Appreciate kindness. Hooray for First Amendment. Cheers/fb
Carl and Alan met in Smythe's class at J-school where they learned to correctly spell Barbra Streisand.
Robert Caro gives Hathway a lot of credit, too, for shaping him as an investigative reporter. But let’s not forget that Hathway supported an outrageous Robert Moses plan to build a highway on Fire Island. Hathway owned property there, and he would probably have profited from the purchase of land to build that road. Building plots at his Lighthouse Shores enterprise were not selling well, and the Moses highway would have helped. Happily, Alicia Patterson realized how bad an idea that was, and Newsday ultimately did not support it. In effect, she was fact-checking Hathway. In my worst-selling history of Newsday, I have a whole chapter on this less-than admirable aspect of Hathway. It’s called “The Fire Island Connection.” Ironically, Caro used the investigative skills that he credits Hathway with building in him, and he turned those skills on Moses., in his masterful, best-selling book, “The Power Broker.”
Fredd (sorry, that should be Fred), you never disappoint. I've said more than once that I'm glad I did newspapering when I did. Your Stony Brook tale reminds me of Paul Schreiber's Accuracy Fs in the class we shared: One error (other than grammatical, ya know) and a paper would earn an F. Hard for teachers to mete out, but I bet the students remember!
Very interesting piece. Thanks Fred.
We watched "Good Night and Good Luck" last night. Amazing how relevant it still is today.