Edward Clarkin Is The Most Important Man In Journalism Today — And He’s Probably Not A Real Person

[FrodosPet]

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/12/25/3735036/edward-clarkin/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link

BY JUDD LEGUM DEC 25, 2015 8:32 PM

A week ago, no one had ever heard of Edward Clarkin. Today he has inspired multiple parody Twitter accounts, prompted one journalist to quit his job after 22 years and has been the subject of intense speculation in elite media circles.

This is how Edward Clarkin went from an unknown to the center of the world of journalism.

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“There is no record of an Edward Clarkin in Connecticut on state voting rolls, property records, lawyer registries or various social-media sites, and several current and former newspaper employees said they never met anyone by that name,” the Hartford Currant reported.

The New Britain Herald staff numbers in the single digits — but no one can recall ever meeting or talking to Clarkin.

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[hr]

Journalism has been on life support for years. Sheldon Adelson killed it when he bought the LVRJ.

Eat feces, Adelson!

[snot]

1. This is an important post, but pls give people a summary, to

give them a clue re- why.

[FrodosPet]

2. Good point. I will follow up soon.

But quickly, from the story:

What’s the connection between Edward Clarkin and the Las Vegas Review-Journal?

While Adelson was pursuing the purchase of the Review-Journal, three Review-Journal reporters were abruptly told to “[d]rop everything and spend two weeks monitoring all activity of three Clark County judges.” The assignment came directly from GateHouse Media, the former owner of the Review-Journal. (GateHouse continues to manage day-to-day operations at the Review-Journal under an agreement with Adelson.)

One of the judges under scrutiny: Elizabeth Gonzalez, the target of Edward Clarkin’s article in the New Britain Herald.

Review-Journal reporters wrote 15,000 words about the judges assigned to them by GateHouse, including Gonzalez, but none of their work ever appeared in the paper.

Information about Elizabeth Gonzalez did subsequently appear under Edward Clarkin’s name in the New Britain Herald.

~ snip ~

[Todays_Illusion]

3. Very conservative move, it you need a particular character and can't find one, create one.

[Blue_Tires]

4. Can't say I'm surprised...

fake news has been around forever...

It is pretty rare and brazen in the electronic era, though...

[Blue_Tires]

5. full backstory from the dude who resigned in protest:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/steve-majerus-collins/why-i-quit-my-job-as-a-reporter-today/10153327505887883?platform=hootsuite

https://twitter.com/bungdan/status/680122200322490368