I followed the link and it turns out I had mentioned Calvan in a post I wrote in March of this year, where I savaged an article he wrote for the Sacramento Bee in which he interviewed illegal aliens and used their quotes to sing the praises of Cesar Chavez, even though Chavez was opposed to illegal immigration - Calvan forgot to mention that little tidbit about the late labor leader, while at the same time, performing literary gymnastics in order to downplay the illegal status of his interviewees.
The reason so many people were going on Google to find out about all things Calvan was because he committed a bit of a faux pas recently. He is currently on assignment in Iraq for McClatchy Newspapers. On his personal blog, Calvan wrote of an encounter with an American soldier guarding a checkpoint, where - on his own blog, mind you - Calvan fully and confidently demonstrated what an arrogant ass he apparently is by describing his browbeating of a G.I. who had (HORROR!) never heard of the Knight-Ridder News Service.
But Calvan wasn't done. On the same blog, he wrote - on his own blog, mind you - about how he basically made up facts he couldn't verify about a firefight in Sadr City between American troops and the terrorists who lurk there. Naturally, Calvan's article stated as fact that the Americans killed innocent civilians even though he could not verify this information.
Not surprisingly, Calvan's blog was deluged with, shall we say, negative comments; so many negative comments that Calvan first pulled the offending posts off the blog, then he shut down the entire blog itself. He has rethought that squishy decision, and his blog is back up with a posted explanation attached to the beginning of the offending post:
(NOTE: This post was previously edited, then removed. By doing so, I was informed, I have violated blog protocol. I have reposted it in its entirety, with the caveat that it was reproduced using a post from another blogger who had preserved my original post.)He also had a new post where he tried to further explain himself:
The Blogoshpere reactsYou know, after reading his explanations and his articles, including re-reading the Chavez article I criticized, Bobby Caina Calvan does not strike me as being the sharpest knife in the drawer. I'll be looking for his next article in the Bee... that is, if he still has a job.
Date October 25, 2007
The response to one of my earlier posts, headlined “Simply Simpatico,” caught me off guard — further evidence of my naivete when it comes to the blogging world. My modest blog about my experiences in Iraq — that I assumed would only garner interest among family and friends — caused quite a stir.
By the way, this blog was never sanctioned by my employers, The Sacramento Bee and the McClatchy Co. It was meant to be a private blog that chronicled my experiences in Iraq and a way for me to express my personal thoughts. Again, it was meant for friends and family — to save me the trouble of responding to every e-mail I would get. I should have made this blog private — and judging from the response I’ve gotten, I should consider such a move.
Yes, I’m obviously new to blogging. Sometimes I share too much. The blogosphere has reacted and pointed out my folly. Yes, I can be pushy. Arrogant, too. I can also be wrong.
Consider this my apology.
Overwhelmed by the e-mails, many of them vitriolic, I initially edited the post, then blocked further comments. Finally, I took down the site. Unfortunately, my actions were yet another faux pas, I was told; I should have left up the post and created a new one to share my reactions and issue an apology....
Good Day to You, Sir
2 comments:
I saw on your stat counter that lots of people found you by searching for him. Mamacita didn't hurt you yesterday, either!
Thanks for the link.
I've exchanged a good number of emails back and forth with Mr. Calvan and he does seem like a decent person, he just screwed up and then blogged about it.
He's reposted his blog, he copy/pasted his own post from the the version I saved and reposted it (he had deleted his entire blog, so he had to go to my page to recreate his own post) and he's re-opened comments, plus he made a new post admitting he now realized his behavior was asinine and apologizing, so he deserves credit for that.
However, LGF has posted questions about the veracity of his reporting in Iraq and Dan Riehl has some evidence that seems to indicate Mr. Calvan padded his resume at the SacBee, so he's not immune to all criticism from here on out just because he apologized for the post in question.
I have some follow-up posts about this stuff on my blog, plus an unsolicited email defending Calvan from a fellow reporter from the SacBee and some of Calvan's emails.
Post a Comment