V. Voice pulls cover story after admission of fabrication, Is Pfork's Nick Sylvester also the V.Voice's Nick Sylvester? Options

[Ben]

From Regret The Error via Romenesko:

March 02, 2006
Village Voice says writer fabricated parts of cover story
The Village Voice has removed this week's cover story from its website after discovering that associate editor Nick Sylvester fabricated at least part of the article. The Voice has placed an Editor's Note on the front page of its site. It's followed by a short note of apology from Sylvester. Romenesko was the first to spot this. From the Editor's Note:

Early Wednesday morning, the Voice learned that the concluding section of this week's cover story, "Do You Wanna Kiss Me?" by senior associate editor Nick Sylvester, contained fabricated material. In that section, Sylvester says he met at a New York City bar with three TV writers who had flown in from L.A. to test their updates of pickup techniques from Neil Strauss's book, The Game.That scene, as Sylvester now acknowledges in the statement below, never happened...

It then notes that Sylvester has been suspended and the paper is looking into the "entire" article. It doesn't state how long this initial suspension if for, or if the paper will examine Sylvester's past work. As is too often the case in an incident of plagiarism or fabrication, the paper isn't providing enough information about the incident and its response. How did the paper discover the fabrication? How long is Sylvester suspended for? How will the Voice go about reviewing this article? Will it look at Sylvester's past work? How will it determine if Sylvester needs to be fired? What is the paper's policy when it comes to fabrication? How did this slip through the fact, or was any fact check done? These are obvious questions any journalist would ask. The Voice should answer them. It also needs to look at Sylvester's previous work to confirm this is a one time incident. Finally, we're not crazy about the Voice's choice of headline for the Note: "Editor’s Note: What Happened to That Cover Story?" Something a little more direct and apologetic might have been more appropriate than a headline that evokes Dude, Where's My Car?

Here's the note of apology written by Sylvester:

I did not meet Steve Lookner in New York at Bar 151. The trip and my encounter with him, DC, and Vali did not happen as I reported, or at all. The scene was a composite of specific anecdotes shared to me primarily by the two other parties, DC and Vali; Lookner did not share or take part in these anecdotes either. I deeply regret this misinformation, and I apologize to Lookner for his distress, which I certainly never intended.

[6ome 9irl]

ha, i just said i hate that kid in atrius's p4k thread. SUCH A HACK.

[Ben]

This will not be good for his career.

edit: (assuming they are the same person.)

It also looks like Gawker was there. Romo cited them.

[Jigga]

whats the big deal, its not a life and death story, probably aboust some new up and coming music scene or something. Journalists take themselves too serious.

[Sickpup]

well, if anyone deserves this, it would be him. a predictable crime for a guy who's always placed entertainment ahead of fairness. of course, he won't receive even a fraction of the venom from the crit establishment that he's dealt artists.

sadly, the music writing profession isn't exactly renowned for its high ethical standards. he'll be back writing for them in no time...

[Bhickman]

Nick Sylvester is a fucking asshole and the worst of a very bad bunch *(yet the best example of everything that is wrong with rock writing in the internet age).

LBJ's dead-on when he says that Sylvester favors entertainment over substance and ethics.

and yes, from what I know, the Nick Sylvester writing for the Village Voice and for Pitchfork are one and the same.

Get ready to say "Do you want fries with that?," Sylvester.

[Jigga]

wtf is substance in music writing? Only a music writer with pretesnsions to performing an important role in society would make such a stupid statement. Bhickman I am not surprised.

[Ben]

Gawker also says it's the same person and I get over my caution.

Here's their dish, if you haven't already clicked it:

Here’s what we hear/speculate/gather: People quoted in the story claim they never spoke to the reporter. Editors at the paper now believe Sylvester likely fabricated material. Writers at the paper believe this is because young Sylvester — a former Harvard Lampoon kid who writes criticism for the Voice and indie-music reviews for Pitchfork — didn’t quite get the whole big-reported-cover-story thing, which he wasn’t really ready for and which Simmons was pushing him to do. Simmons, merely the acting editor, is trying to make a splash so he can get the job permanently. This is not the sort of splash he had in mind. Sylvester may or may not have fainted in Simmons’s office while being berated. And everything in the usually boisterous office is being kept very need-to-know.

Please insert an “allegedly” into every sentence of that second, speculative graf. We’ll let you know more as we do. Meantime, we’ll actually have to trudge to the corner a pick up a Voice. How delightfully old-school!

Source contests story in letter to editor, posts it on blog, Ben lifts link from Gawker (link).

I don't mind so much that you quoted my writing without contact me for permission first, I'm quite flattered and certainly appreciate the publicity for my blog. What I do mind is that the story is, essentially, bullshit.

Gawker comment features this whithering quip I figure will appeal to the SOMBie massive:

I read a few paragraphs of that article, and no joke I thought to myself, "Where did he find these women, a Liars show?" (That was right after I read his review of the Liars album in the same issue. A good, well written review.) But I figured any reporter knows where to find sources for that kind of hard-hitting investigative journalism.

And, finally, here is the story, which seems to have been expunged from the Voice site, but I imagine will still appear on newstands. It begins:

'Do You Wanna Kiss Me?'
How New York's women are wising up to The Game's pickup tips

by Nick Sylvester
February 28th, 2006 11:42 AM

"It was Saturday night, we had just had sex," recalls Caitlin, a 22-year-old private tutor living on the Upper West Side. "I went into the bathroom. He had, of course, stacks of The New Yorker and some other random books. Underneath the New Yorkers, I saw what I thought was the Bible. And the first thing I thought was, 'Oh my God, he has the Bible in the bathroom.' But it was The Game, the picking-up-girls book. So I flipped through it a little bit."Five minutes in, Caitlin felt like she was reading a script of her night so far: Apparently, she'd been negged, cubed, kino'd, then f-closed by a PUA. She stormed out the bathroom, book in hand. "He sort of didn't want to discuss it."

[Bhickman]

wtf is substance in music writing? Only a music writer with pretesnsions to performing an important role in society would make such a stupid statement. Bhickman I am not surprised.

I've answered enough of your shit today, little one.

"go back" to "Africa."

technorati blog search

[boobs]

Yeah its definitely the same guy. He and Tom Breihan, both of pfork fame, are the first village voice music bloggers. He was also the dude who did that riffraff blog that 'interviewed' people with 'amusing' fake interviews. I feel kinda bad even though I didn't really like the guy because he is fucked.

Unless he writes the next Saturday Night Fever.

[The Good Dr Bill]

I do sorta feel for Sylvester--small fish in a new situation of power, wanting to prove himself, pressure of deadlines, etc. That said, still not very excusable (and as others have pointed out, if you're going to fabricate sources, why would you have real people be saying them?)

[Bhickman]

Yeah, it's one thing to go overboard and just say wild shit in a sarcastic manner in a review (ala the louis xiv review of a year ago that he did), but to claim that something really took place in what was purported to be a story about actual events, that's just lame and lazy.

[Jigga]

good to see rick james in hickmans signature, not played out or anything.

[Bhickman]

we can't be as topical as you, bitch.

[Complain]

wtf is substance in music writing? Only a music writer with pretesnsions to performing an important role in society would make such a stupid statement. Bhickman I am not surprised.

This is an asinine statement. "Substance" is what distinguishes good writing from bad. I doubt that you'll find many music writers (especially here) that consider their job (or sideline, in my case) something that has widespread societal implications.

However...any writer, regardless of subject, wants his stuff to be read. The difference, as Hickman correctly stated, is that the internet age has allowed almost anyone to be a writer and/or critic. Unless you write fiction, you are responsible to be ethical and print things that are facts, period. Failure to do so reflects badly on writers, the media, and the faith that people used to place in their news outlets. It makes the rest of us look bad by association, and we have to work that much harder to regain credibility that we had nothing to do with losing.

THAT is why Sylvester, or James Frey, or anyone else of their ilk should be forced into other professions. When the lines start blurring between truth and fiction, nothing can be trusted. And we're close enough to that situation already, as far am I'm concerned.

Your hatred of Hickman clouded your judgment on this one.

[gil-scott heroin]

based on these replies and seeing that some of you guys are critics, it says a lot about how shallow the profession is

dude fucked up, let's now critique!

[Ben]

I don't know if this will go over any better than the crying at work thread, but I don't feel sorry for him at all. He ought to be ashamed because he's done a shameful thing.

There are literally hundreds of talented, principled people who would get on their knees and beg to have opportunities like he had. There can be pity, but not much sympathy.

based on these replies and seeing that some of you guys are critics, it says a lot about how shallow the profession is

dude fucked up, let's now critique!

Huh?

[gil-scott heroin]

i guess you didnt read any of the replies in this thread

[Ben]

I guess not!

[r.i.p.]

First I want to say that Nick is by far my favorite staff member I've met through Pitchfork. He's incredibly nice, and comes across like Spike Jonze playing the lead in a Woody Allen movie. However, I literally can't read a thing he writes. The guy has no sense of syntax whatsoever, approaches writing like it's a Pollock, and spews adjectives he picks up on East Side streets into an obtuse approximation of "sentences." This certainly won't turn into a James Frey event, because nobody reads the Village Voice. If anything he should be most ashamed for even caring to waste time on a story about "The Game."