The mysterious Heywood James

Published Jan 17 2008, 06:40 PM by Adam Reilly

Interesting correction in today's Globe (scroll down):

Because the subject of an interview provided misleading information, a man quoted in a Page One story Tuesday about employees who telecommuted during Monday's snowstorm was incorrectly identified as Heywood James, 41, of Needham, and an employee of Fidelity Investments. Fidelity has no employee by that name.

In case you missed it, here's what the Globe originally said about how "Heywood James" spent his Monday:

Waking up yesterday to snowdrifts nearly a foot high at his home in Needham, James decided it wasn't worth the time and effort to get to his office in downtown Boston. He looked forward to fewer interruptions from colleagues and had an idyllic notion of more time with the children.
His plan to do financial modeling and field customer calls was working fine until about 10 a.m., when a snow-laden branch outside his house snapped, taking his cable, phone, and Internet connection down as well.
"There was nothing I could do but go to work," said James, 41, of Fidelity Investments, where only about 10 percent of the colleagues in his division were in the office.

So: Heywood James doesn't work at Fidelity. But does he exist, period? Did the Globe hear from an actual Fidelity employee who used an alias? Or a real guy named Heywood James who lied about his employer? Or just someone who made up a bunch of stuff for the hell of it? (By the way, the snapping branch was a great touch.)

This could become a case study in the perils of "open-source reporting," since the Globe had a Contact-us-if-you're-telecommuting message posted at Boston.com. during the storm. I'm still trying to get a fuller explanation from the Globe; if I do, I'll update this post.

Attachment: http://thephoenix.com/MediaLog/content/binary/maskedman.JPG

Chris Matthews' Hillary apology

New in the Phoenix: Obama-Patrick deja vu

8 Comments

Caroline said:

It's a good thing this dude stopped at "Heywood James" and didn't go with "Heywood Ja-you-know-what." It could have been worse. (Well, worse for the Globe, that is.)

January 18, 2008 4:03 AM
Rick in Duxbury said:

I too have been asked by the Globe to make my letters to the editor public. Usually, despite the request, they are not published. On 3-4 instances, they were in fact printed without my permission. For some reason, once they depart from their traditional narrative, (GLBT issues, medical and educational, life inside Route 128), they get sloppy with facts. I long ago stopped being infuriated by their agenda. I guess I'm more bemused now.

January 18, 2008 10:13 PM
O-FISH-L said:

Or did the Globe make it up altogether, ala the Mike Barnicle columns or Chuck Turner and Sadiki Kambon's fake photos of "American troops raping Iraqi women"?

January 19, 2008 3:02 AM
Rick in Duxbury said:

From today's Globe:

www.boston.com/.../ex_officer_sentenced_in_shooting_of_estranged_wifes_boyfriend

Money graf:

"A former Holyoke police officer has been sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison for shooting her estranged wife's boyfriend."

I wonder how much agonizing occurred at the GLBT-obsessed Globe over this one?

January 19, 2008 6:34 PM
O-FISH-L said:

Rick, thanks for the comic relief. I have forwarded that story to my entire circulation list, plus Drudge and Howie Carr. Only in Massachusetts!

January 20, 2008 6:16 AM
Rick in Duxbury said:

No prob, Fish. If you like MA the way it is, thank the Globe. Today's Sunday Globe, for example, describes a real estate mortgage bust-out scheme, where people went from being homeless to six-figure mortgages they couldn't afford. Good reporting job, as far as it goes. Unmentioned in the piece? The real estate broker in the deal shares a last name with the Globe-endorsed state rep from Dorchester. Probably a coincidence. In MA, "Dorcena" is as common as "O'Brien", right?

January 20, 2008 3:35 PM
Adam said:

Fish, your description of the Globe and those fake-rape photos isn't quite accurate. Look at this excerpt from the paper's story on the subject (www.boston.com/.../2_cite_photos_purported_to_show_abuse). You can fault the Globe for putting Turner and Kambon's charges into the paper--but Turner and Kambon were the primary suckers.

"A Boston city councilor distributed graphic photographs yesterday that he said showed US soldiers raping Iraqi women.

"Holding a news conference with activist Sadiki Kambon in the wake of congressional hearings over incendiary photographs of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, City Councilor Chuck Turner said, "The American people have a right and responsibility to see the pictures."

"The images, depicting men in camouflage uniforms having sex with unidentified women, bear no characteristics that would prove the men are US soldiers or that the women are Iraqis. And there is nothing apparent in the images showing they were taken in Iraq. Unlike the photographs widely publicized last week, the images appear to have been taken outdoors in a sandy area with hills in the background."

January 22, 2008 5:31 PM