Friday, August 10, 2012

Never joke in an obituary

One thing most of us learned early in our career is that while there is a First Amendment Right to say just about anything, joking in an obituary is never a good idea.

2 comments:

Jim of L-Town said...

This came via e-mail this morning from my Dad:

"Good morning Jim.



Just finished reading your blog and have a couple of comments, the first concerning the obituary. How someone could have actually written that amazes me. Talk about poor taste!



The feature on newspaper buildings brought back fond memories when I was a young "tub thumper" working for a Los Angeles advertising agency assigned to a major oil company account. I would frequently enter newsrooms of the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Examiner, Los Angeles Daily News and the Los Angeles Herald Express. There were no guards and I was able to meet and talk with city editors and feature writers. A few I still remember are: Jim Richardson*, Times; Maggie Underwood**, Herald Express; Matt Weinstock, feature writer for the Daily News.



Thanks for the blog, Jim. Hope all is well.



My love to you all.



Dad

*Jim Richardson always was standing up and, at times, scared the bejeesus out of me!

** Maggie Underwood treated me like a son of hers. I loved her!

Jim of L-Town said...

Yes, and Matt Weinstock wrote a couple very funny books about the newspaper business and his experiences that are still available on Amazon.

"Muscatel at Noon" was very good and many of my retired Journal reporters have read it.

"My LA" is another good book by Weinstock.