Charlie LeDuff borrows a story

**Cooper** · April-02-09, 01:32 AM

Charlie LeDuff kicked off a new weekly series today in the Detroit News [["Travels with Charlie") with a feature on Glemie Dean Beasley, the "Coon Man."

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...+scampering+by

Hm. I wonder where he got the idea ...

http://metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=13618

**rjk** · April-02-09, 05:33 AM

When you're looking for a stories a guy selling coons does stand out.
It is possible to come across something like this and not know that it was done by the Metrotimes.

I wonder if CL has even heard of the MT. If I didn't see it piled up 6" high when I walked into a coney island I wouldn't know about it either. Let's not act like it has a large readership.

Even if he did get the story from the MT it enabled this coon guys story to go from A ball to the major leagues.

**oldredfordette** · April-02-09, 07:48 AM

Maybe he could walk from one end of Outer Drive to the other. That hasn't been done in about two years. The story will practically write itself!

**Lowell** · April-02-09, 08:09 AM

CBC did a story on the blues playing coon merchant two nights ago when they had blogger John on. No doubt he led them to him. BTW he is great guitarist.

My neighbor in Highland Park raised coons on occasion. It is an old south thing. Trouble was his kept escaping on him making work for HP's animal control [back when they still had services like that.]

"There's no news like old news."

Bearinabox · April-02-09, 08:37 AM

In a city this big and this weird, LeDuff should have no trouble finding oddities to write about. Looks like he decided to take a day off. Nice work if you can get it.

**Lonyo exit** · April-02-09, 08:57 AM

Rjk - So he's never heard of Metro Times, despite being written about in it and interviewed by them. Uh, ok brown noser.

dexterferry · April-02-09, 09:07 AM

where's realitycheck and gnome all the other LeDuff apologists?

it's not like this is the first time. remember that story he "discovered" "all by himself" driving around detroit---the one about the suburbanites moving the graves of their ancestors?

yeah, there was a full documentary movie made about than phenomenon in 2003 by someone else who "discovered" it. it was part of the Shrinking Cities exhibit a few years back. maybe that's where Charlie "discovered" it.

Give him a break guys, it's not easy finding all these great stories about Detroit when you have to commute from St. Clair Shores every day! And it's not like your brother calls with juicy tip before every deadline. . . sometimes you just need a little help!

dexterferry · April-02-09, 09:27 AM

"The interior paint has the faded sepia tones of an old man's teeth; the wallpaper is as flaky and dry as an old woman's hand."

I like how he has the cajones to write a sentence that terrible, but couldn't include a simple sentence like "I first read about him on the excellent Detroitblog and decided I had to meet him for myself. . ."

it's not that he's poaching ideas from other, more talented writers that's the real problem. it's that he's not crediting those he's poaching from and acting like he's discovering it all on his own. it's the whole Jayson Blair New York Times scummy journalism of half-truths and manufactured quotes that this guy is so steeped in. . . I honestly believe he doesn't know how to work any other way.

**boogiechillen** · April-02-09, 09:29 AM

Let's not forget that plagiarism is the reason LeDuff left the New York Times and is rebuilding his carreer at The News.

http://www.slate.com/id/2092708/

I do appreciate his writing abilities, but the man needs some original ideas. I will give him and Max Ortiz credit for producing excellent web shorts in which LeDuff is able to get local notables to speak quite candidly [[Kevorkian's Nihilistic rant about wishing he had never been born, MonCon's reinactment of the Shrek incident). LeDuff is definitely a mixed bag.

gravitymachine · April-02-09, 09:29 AM

moderator, please cross-post to "crap journalism in the D"

**raptor56** · April-02-09, 09:53 AM

Is there a reporter who gets more mention and attention on DYES than Charlie LeDuff?

**Detroitnerd** · April-02-09, 10:13 AM

A friend joked today, "The latest from LeDuff was better when I read it in Metro Times back in January..." Made me laugh.

dexterferry · April-02-09, 10:38 AM

maybe in a few weeks Charlie can go to the Schvitz and report what happens on Couples Night.

**gnome** · April-02-09, 10:45 AM

I guess folks think that only one story can be written about something. Sure would put an end to ... let's see, hmm,... literature, music, movies, painting and everything else.

The best thing I liked about the video was the Coon Man's blues playing; what was the best thing about the video for you?

Oh, btw, LeDuff lives in Pleasant Ridge and as far as being an apologist, I'm fine with that. If you don't like his stuff, don't read it. Life is complicated enough, give yourself a break, you deserve it.

Bearinabox · April-02-09, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by gnome

I guess folks think that only one story can be written about something. Sure would put an end to ... let's see, hmm,... literature, music, movies, painting and everything else.

I would rather have LeDuff tell us about something else that's interesting in the city. I already knew about the raccoon guy. When LeDuff is "on," I enjoy his writing, but there are plenty of oddities in the city to go around, and I'd like to read about something I didn't already know existed. That's the appeal of Detroitblog for me--either he reports about something like the TV repair place on Chene that I've seen and wondered about but never been inside, or he reports on something like that guy in Brightmoor selling the remnants of dead people's estates out of an abandoned house that I would never have known about if not for him. LeDuff has the potential to do the same thing--Christ knows there's potential in a job where all you have to do is ride around town in a dark-red Checker cab and look for weirdness--but instead he chose to phone it in, and I have lost some respect for him as a result.

The best thing I liked about the video was the Coon Man's blues playing; what was the best thing about the video for you?

I seem to remember a similar video [[complete with blues playing) in the Detroitblog/Metro Times piece.

Oh, btw, LeDuff lives in Pleasant Ridge and as far as being an apologist, I'm fine with that.

Thought it was somewhere up Woodward. I've seen him driving up and down in his Checker cab.

If you don't like his stuff, don't read it. Life is complicated enough, give yourself a break, you deserve it.

I haven't formed a hard-and-fast opinion on his stuff yet. I've only really become aware of him in the past few months. I think he's a hell of a writer when he wants to be, and I think articles like this are evidence of laziness rather than incompetence. I would like to enjoy his writing, but if all he does is rehash Detroitblog, I'll take a pass.

**Lonyo exit** · April-02-09, 11:03 AM

He sure has a history of having a hard time coming up with original material:

http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/rolling-nowhere

**BShea** · April-02-09, 01:33 PM

I know Charlie knows what MT is, but I doubt he reads it weekly.

And more than one publication will do a story on some interesting subject.

Even if MT and some blog did it prior, a helluva lot more people read about it for the first time in The News today.

I know when I write something unique in Crain's, it's going to be seen only by something like 60,000 readers potentially, out of millions. So if some other pub writes about it, I'm not going to cry plagiarism.

Blogs and alt-weeklies have a pretty small cadre of readers in a market like this. I don't blame Charlie or any other reporter for not vetting what they write against the small players in the media game. And there's simply too many with all the blogs out there, too. Proliferation of news is good and bad, and there's going to be a lot of "repeating" of stories that isn't someone being lazy and cheating.

**Cooper** · April-02-09, 02:23 PM

I'm not bothered that he repeated the story. One of the benefits of smaller publications like the Metro Times and Crain's Detroit is that they draw attention to important, overlooked stories that the dailies or other media can then bring to a wider audience. I just wish he had cited his source.

Of course, I don't know for sure that he read or heard the story first through Detroitblogger John. Maybe he also saw the "Fresh Coons" signs and pursued the lead himself. But given his track record, it's hard to give him the benefit of the doubt. My hunch is that he wrote an original version of a story he first saw elsewhere and didn't bother to credit the source of his inspiration. If so, that's wrong.

By the way, BShea, do you think that most local journalists really don't bother reading the smaller publications like the Metro Times or Crain's Detroit? If so, that's a shame. Crain's reporting on Detroit is generally better than either daily, and the lag between the Metro Times and the dailies on major stories like the incinerator or the bridge is often measured in months, not hours or days. But if journalists don't bother to read their competitors, they won't even know they're being scooped!

**EastsideAl** · April-02-09, 02:33 PM

Oh c'mon. The Metro Times has been the major weekly in the Detroit area for, what, more than 25 years now? It breaks at least as many local stories as the Free Press and the News, and its editor is someone who was a lead entertainment writer for the Free Press for 15+ years and is extremely well known on the local newspaper and entertainment scene. It's at least the third most widely read publication in Detroit. And you mean to tell me seriously the LeDuff wouldn't know about it?

And DetroitBlog has been the major blog telling the stories of Detroit since basically the dawn of the blogging era, and is widely read and respected in this area and by those interested in our area. How do you think Detroitblog John got his Metro Times gig?

LeDuff wouldn't have even known about the raccoon guy, let alone have written about him, if it hadn't been for John's work. It truly strains credulity to believe or maintain otherwise. The fact that Charlie didn't deign to even give a credit line only adds insult to the injury.

dexterferry · April-02-09, 02:53 PM

gnome, your continued loyalty Leduff is admirable. I'm sure you are a great friend to those close to you, but in this case I think it's really time to acknowledge that there's a pattern here that doesn't reflect well on Leduff's integrity.

I'm not going to argue about his talent as a writer; I personally think Detroitblogger John is a far better writer, and for every reader who loves Leduff's brand of gonzo Albomesque schlock there's another one rolling their eyes. I will say that Leduff has made a career out of questionable behavior, from his early plagurism to his days with Jayson Blair in the New York Times affirmative action program [[Leduff is part Indian---the [[[[[[[[[ Tribe of Livonia, I believe) to the Roosevelt Warehouse incident discussed here ad nauseum and now this. it's a pattern man. if you can't see it you're deliberately not looking.

No one believes only one person has the right to write about a certain topic, but when you're making a second career as some hardboiled Kuraltian gonzo reporter swooping down from the suburbs into the dark, black city to write about all the cuckoos, at least acknowledge that you're not the first to discover the rare specimen you're writing about.

talented people steal other peoples' ideas all the time. unfortunately for Leduff, he's less talented than those he's stealing from. he added nothing to this story other than some really cringeworthy turns of phrase. and if we all just shrug our shoulders and say "oh well, let's give him the benefit of the doubt" that just plays right into his pattern of behavior.

**mauser** · April-02-09, 03:24 PM

if i was the guy who edited the original detroitblog video, i think id be really pissed off that Charlie straight up copied it.

how absolutely lame.

**BShea** · April-02-09, 03:28 PM

It breaks at least as many local stories as the Free Press and the News

I got my chuckle for the day on that one. Thanks.

**Lonyo exit** · April-02-09, 03:35 PM

LOL! Repeating a story is one thing. But this?

Metro Times: He hunts them himself at night, using dogs with such names as Undertaker and Gravedigger to chase them up a tree, where Beasley brings them down with a .22.

LeDuff: He procures the coons with the help of the hound dogs who chase the animal up a tree, where Beasley harvests them with a .22 caliber rifle.

There was no other way to express things like this? It just happens to be nearly identical?

That's lazy bordering on plagiarism..

dexterferry · April-02-09, 03:43 PM

"Travels With Charlie."

That's an insult to John Steinbeck's dog.

**Reality_Check** · April-02-09, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by Lonyo exit

no other way to express things like this? It just happens to be nearly identical? That's lazy bordering on plagiarism..

Oh puh-leese, give us a break and don't embarrass yourself anymore, Lonyo.

Each writer accompanied CoonMan on a hunt, saw him and the hounds do essentially the same thing with the same firearm, and described it.

You could play this kind of gotcha game with reports on KK's trial testimony, State of the City speeches, presidential news conferences and other events covered by by more than one English-speaking journalist.

By your reasoning, to apply that word loosely, daily weather reports are "lazy bordering on plagiarism."

There, now I've done gone 'n confirmed my status as a LeDuff apologist. Whatever.

Look, I chose my screename back deliberately . . . though I'd never claim mine is the only true "reality" [[doesn't exist), just that my perspective is reality as I see it. Same as all of us, obviously . . .

. . . but some statements seem [[seem, not are) simply too wacked-out to rest unchallenged.

And here's another thing: I'm glad Bill Shea is a forumer and piped up here smartly. So go ahead log me as his partisan, too, DexterFerry. Damn fine company.