Deseret News accidentally reprints a ‘Snide Remarks’ column; says whoops, our bad
After all these years, I can finally say I’ve been published in the Deseret News! I never really wanted to say that, but hey, a byline is a byline.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a byline at first. The Des News inadvertently took part in a wee bit of plagiarism — a situation that has now been rectified with much apologizing, I assure you.
At the paper’s website, they have a feature called LDS Newsline, a blog-like collection of items of particular interest to Mormons, who make up approximately 70 percent of Utah and approximately 100 percent of Deseret News readers.
An occasional feature there at the Newsline is “Mormon Lite”: “Sincere (but occasionally feeble) attempts at LDS humor.” They are submitted by readers. An Erik Hyer of Layton, Utah, submitted this one, about a Mormon-themed chain of restaurants.
About a dozen sharp-eyed readers have e-mailed me in the last 24 hours, alerting me of this article’s existence, and of its uncanny similarity to a “Snide Remarks” column I wrote way back in 2000.
I was alarmed by two things. One, I had no idea my readership overlapped so much with that of the Deseret News. How can I change that?
Two, why was the Des News reprinting my column without attribution?!
This particular chunk of whimsy has been forwarded around the Internet quite a bit as one of those “anonymous” funny things you send to all your friends — which, yes, some people still do in 2007, a good eight years after it stopped being socially acceptable. No doubt that’s where Erik Hyer of Layton got it.
Now, what the Des News should have done with this and all other reader submissions was to ask, “Did you write this?” And if the person says no, he just found it on the Interwebs, then the Des News should do a little googling to see if they can find the true author. That would be my recommendation for the future. As you know, I am an acknowledged expert in matters of journalism ethics.
I e-mailed LDS Online Editor Joe Walker, told him the whole story, and asked that he either remove the piece or give it proper attribution. He replied this morning to say the paper was willing to do whichever I preferred. I said go ahead and leave it up; just set the record straight about its authorship.
Joe was sympathetic, apologetic, and even empathetic: He once received one of his own pieces of writing as an “anonymous” e-mail forward.
So the record has been set straight now, with an explanation and a note put on the original post.
But the best part? The comments people have posted on it. Despite being a very innocuous bit of silly humor, some people still manage to be offended by it. You don’t find it funny, that’s one thing. I don’t care. But OFFENDED by it? Yikes. Good thing I never actually wrote “Snide Remarks” for the Deseret News. The stone-faced blue-hairs who constitute the bulk of the paper’s readership would have stormed the offices and murdered me in a matter of weeks.
September 6th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Does this mean I have to give up reading the Deseret News?
September 6th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
My sister-in-law has yet to realize that it is no longer socially acceptable to forward crap to everyone on her email contact list. Although, she does use a computer that would have been cutting edge about eight years ago, so maybe she figures that exempts her from the no forwarding rule.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I am neither elderly nor blue-haired and I read both the Deseret News AND Eric Snider (not necessarily in that order). Take that, stereotypes!
I prefer the Deseret News to the Salt Lake Tribune. I like the entertainment features and such better. I also prefer the Des News font. Content shmontent! I want a pleasing font!
September 6th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
The Desert News is like the married with 2.5 kids, ward-clerk older brother of the Daily Universe. No doubt the readers of the universe graduate to reading longer, better researched articles in the Deseret News, but never develop that sense of humor.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Terrific, Eric. The comments even have my absolute favourite:
“The sacastic tone of this article does no one any good, and I would be just as offended if it had poked fun at any other religion (or any other group of people for that matter”…
In other words - I found this offensive because:
a) I am offended by absolutely anything that pokes even the slightest bit of fun at my religion.
b) I am the sort of person who gets offended by everything.
c) I am only really offended because it pokes fun at my religion, but if I put in the qualifier about being offended by everything, it makes it okay for me to complain about this.
You can sort of do a pick ‘n’ mix with complaints like this - is this person an a, b or c? Or a combination of all three?
September 6th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
I read the comments before I read the actual article. This is by far one of the most innocuous of Eric’s articles and , with apologies, my vote for “the most likely to show up in a ward newsletter.” You have to expend effort to be offended by this one. My favorite comments are, “Playing loose and wild with names that … are associated with sacred thoughts reduces the humor factor.” and “This was TERRIBLE!!! Deseret News, get a clue and raise yourself out of the mire!”
I lived in Utah for 6 years, read Eric’s articles while I was at BYU and have NEVER understood the angry responses to humor. With so much crap and evil in the world why would someone pick this to get indignant about? Desert News is not the 5th Standard Work.
September 7th, 2007 at 6:01 am
Okay, I’m just amazed that so many people outside of Utah are reading the Deseret News, apparently on a daily basis. Why?
September 8th, 2007 at 10:58 am
I read some of the comments. It makes me think that Mormons are harder to please than any other group. It seems a lot people thought the jokes were lame, and then a ton of others were offended. You can’t win because everything has to be so tame that it won’t offend anybody anywhere for any reason, but also has to actually be funny.
September 8th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
I live in Las Vegas, but came from Utah years ago. I read the DesNews and the Trib online at least several times a week, mostly because the LVRJ is only able to report on 1) How much the casinos made this month and 2) The latest gang shooting in North Las Vegas. I like keeping up on local issues(to Utah) but not sure why. I too, loved the comments on Eric’s article. Talk about the easily offended………..
January 28th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Hey - I’m offended that you people think Mormons don’t appreciate humor and/or can’t laugh at themselves! Joking — seriously — I actually got this as a forwarded email without attribution and thought it was pretty clever — Really, inside and outside of the church, you just can’t paint everyone with the same brush . . . . . we tend to be individual, and pretty darn proud of it (in a humble way, of course)