Anatomy of a rewrite: scribbling over the Wisconsin State Journal's Delavan mass murder mashup

The Capital Times' and State Journal's coverage of the mass murder in Delavan, WI has been pwned by that of the Janesville Gazette and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel--not to mention the hometown paper's. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but from Sunday on, there were so many flavors of AP wire copy on madison.com. Which to choose?

The previous link, with video ported from an ABC affliate in Milwaukee? The Cap Times' straight-up, byline-free (but with video!) AP piece? Or perhaps the State Journal's potpourri production? The WSJ included chunks of the TCT's AP copy, but acknowledged that...

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters Greg J. Borowski and John Diedrich, Associated Press reporters Scott Bauer and Mark Carlson and Chicago Tribune reporter Lisa Black contributed to this story.

That's a lot of cut-and-paste action! A better read than this SEO mockery, though. So it seems that AP copy, the Tribune's "6 shot to death in Wisconsin" and the Journal Sentinel's "6 killed in Delavan home" have been spliced into the Frankenstein of tragic reportage below.

^{Key to scribblings by our guest critic:
Trib=Chicago Tribune, JS=Journal Sentinel, AP=Associated Press
Breakdown initially conducted with print-out of WSJ piece, by matching direct "quotes" (attributed to actual people) with their original articles. Give it a whirl, he probably missed something.}

[click to enlarge]

[Those last JS, and "JS phrasing resequenced" references may be inaccurate. They don't appear exclusive to JS, as they also appear in this unedited AP story pumped into the WSJ forums. Blame Cy.]

It's almost as if there was a WSJ reporter on the scene!

Holler at a Capital Times print redesign

From the Cap Newspapers job listings (emph. added):

VISUAL EDITOR-The Capital Times, Madison

The Capital Times of Madison, Wis., seeks a manager to oversee all elements of visual journalism in print and, increasingly, online. This editor will be responsible for optimizing the impact of our visual journalism in all forms – working with a pending print redesign, ensuring timely and effective informational graphics and maps, achieving an exceptional photo report, and improving the quality of our overall visual journalism. Just as importantly, this editor will be a key leader in our aggressive move to the Internet by helping ensure our site is as engaging and navigable as possible and by helping us embrace the best multimedia tools. This editor will manage the graphics and photo staffs and effective management skills are essential. A bachelor’s degree in graphic design or communications preferred.

Applications will be accepted through June 24, 2007.

Maybe that's already taken place? We don't really read the print edition.

Capital Times' commenter fields?

Hastings should've poked around his home site a little more before typing:

Maybe if readers weren't ghettoized in forums, and responses appeared below the column itself (see: Badger Herald, modern half of Isthmus), I wouldn't be reaching offsite to highlight reader reaction. Or maybe I just went glib as Lampert Smith's one-line grafs. But this is a woefully editor-free blog, so that's to be expected, right?

Actually, that still applies to WSJ stories, but what have we here?



The TCT stays true to its progressive roots by revamping ahead of the WSJ? Maybe the WSJ's just going to better integrate forums w/ articles--a la Post, and the auto-linkage isn't fully complete?