When I fired up my laptop this morning and checked in with Liberal America headquarters, I had a message from my Managing Editor. She informed me that a story I had written in June had just been the subject of an article in “Forbes” magazine. Wow! “Forbes!” This is awesome!
Then I read the article and realized that the person writing it, Dolia Estevez, was not trying to give me a pat on the back. Instead, she was taking me to task for an article I had written on the founder of The Home Depot, Bernie Marcus, vocally endorsing Donald Trump.
To backtrack for a moment, when I wrote the piece on Marcus I did it with a tongue-in-cheek intent, hoping to poke some fun at a businessman supporting Trump in light of the fact that Trump has declared multiple bankruptcies over the years on various businesses he controlled. This man is a beacon of business expertise? You could have fooled me.
But according to Ms. Estevez, I was personally responsible for touching off a worldwide boycott of The Home Depot. Me! Sitting here at my laptop in Georgia, and with my tremendous power and influence, I had just cost a giant corporation billions of dollars. Wow! I had no idea I’d become so damn influential.
But then as I read what Estevez had written, it quickly became clear that her skills as a journalist were suspect. And I say that for some very good reasons:
- Estvez talks about an online petition. I never mentioned starting a petition. I merely said:
“If you’re thinking about making some home improvements or purchasing some garden equipment, here’s some information that might come in handy before you decide where to buy your supplies: the founder of Home Depot, Bernie Marcus, says he’s supporting Donald Trump and urges all Republicans to fall in line behind Herr Trump.”
- I didn’t make the story up. It was reported by multiple news outlets. So why did I get called out?
- The article in question got a total of 5,678 views, but that led to a worldwide action against Home Depot?
- Christian Paulino Yris Martagón, the person who called for the boycott, doesn’t cite Liberal America as the inspiration for his action
- The MoveOn.org petition referenced by Ms. Estevez also never mentions my article, so the creator of the petition probably wasn’t one of the 5,678 readers of the piece. It’s impossible to know if any of the 684 people who have signed that petition read my article or were inspired by it to sign the petition.
Don’t get me wrong, this entire matter is good news for me and for Liberal America. I got a nice pat on the back from the owner of Liberal America and hey, I might even break 6,000 views as a result. If this helps us get more eyeballs on our website, then Estevez can call me dirty names in print and I’ll laugh all the way to the bank.
But here’s the bottom line: Dolia Estevez did some very lazy journalism, and working for “Forbes” she should know better. What did she do? Google the topic and then grab my story when it showed up on her screen? Why not dig a bit deeper and see that others had written the same thing, then reference them, too? Isn’t that what journalism is supposed to be about? I always make sure I verify what I write from two sources, because I was taught to do that in journalism school and at the numerous publications I’ve worked for over the past 20 years. So maybe “Forbes” needs to hire me as a contributor and upgrade their staff.
I can take constructive criticism. If you can’t in this business, it’ll eat you alive in no time. But even Ms. Estevez ends her article with this note:
“There are no indications so far, both in Mexico and the U.S., that the call to boycott The Home Depot is having an effect.”
So why write the article, Ms. Estevez? Do they pay you by the word and you wanted to pick up some extra money? All you did was put more cash in my pocket. And for that, I thank you.
Featured Image Via Pixabay/Public Domain
