H unter S. Thompson ran out of things to say, and everybody and their brother had something to say about it. He probably would've called all of us who mourned idiotic simps who should spend their time cultivating anger and getting drunk.

My column on HST has led me on an interesting journey. I submitted it to Counterpunch.org, which posted it. The elegy generated an astonishing response. I averaged an email an hour for a day and a half. One writer in Oslo shared his tale of eating mushrooms before covering an art gallery opening in a staid Norwegian museum. Another told me my conclusion defiled Thompson's memory. A radio host in Gainesville interviewed me about HST. Hartford's own John Mason told me how he prefaced his 2nd PhD thesis with the Thompson quote "I am very conscious of eras."

Most of the emails noted that I committed a grievous error in the closing paragraph. I flubbed my description of a pivotal scene in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Contrary to what I said, it was actually the Samoan attorney who was in the bathtub begging for death by electrocution and it was Dr. Gonzo who showed mercy by hurling grapefruits in the tub.

While I don't think this role reversal altered the gist of what I was saying about Thompson's attitude towards life, some of the respondents told me I was a moron, a "&^%$" and a poser who Thompson would detest. He couldn't have hated me as much as I hated myself when I realized my error.

I appreciated the ones who were kind in pointing out the error, adding a positive comment to the negative. I like it when we communicate with compassion, with the understanding that we are all human and we all make mistakes.

As soon as I learned of the screw-up, I summoned the courage to email a correction to Counterpunch. I asked them to take a second to post a new paragraph. When I received no response from my first email, I sent another one a day later. Five days later, after yet another email wondering if I was a post-modernist or a deconstructionist, I sent another request to fix the mistake.

Still no response, still no correction. I didn't ask for money for the story, I signed no contract. I don't think I gave up my rights to alter my work. Counterpunch has no stated corrections policy.

I am not sure what happens next. Do I have an attorney write and ask them to take either fix it or take it down? One of my friends, a journalist with 15 years of experience, told me to leave it alone. But I can't live with that mistake forever.

For two years, I have trusted the information in Counterpunch, edited by Alexander Cockburn, who writes a column for the Nation, and Jeffrey St. Clair. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Counterpunch, along with sites like Dissidentvoice.org, provided reason. Yet now I wonder about Counterpunch's publishing procedures based on this experience.

Having cut my teeth in newspaper, I take it for granted that when you make a mistake, you print a correction, no matter the embarrassment or the cost. It is reassuring to know that every day I can turn to page A2 in the New York Times and see them set the record straight on most issues. Mind you, I'm not holding my breath for the Times to do more than write 1,000 words about its central role in helping to start the Iraq war.

On the web, it should be even easier to fix a mistake. This situation makes me think that websites should follow basic standards for corrections, and sites should publish their correction policies clearly.

Every time I feel like independent websites are gaining credibility as news medium, like with the bloggers outing White House "correspondent" Jeff Gannon/James Guckert, I experience a setback. How many other websites present a faade of journalistic standards and integrity but don't correct mistakes? How many factual errors have I read in Counterpunch alone that I took for reality because I assumed the stories were thoroughly edited yet never saw a correction?

At the bottom of the Counterpunch column, a link to my website www.the40yearplan.com logged some 240 hits. That is great exposure for my work, but if I can't count on the editors to correct an honest mistake, I have to cross off Counterpunch as a place to publish and visit.

I'd like to think Hunter S. Thompson would agree with that.

2/28/05

Email this to a friend.

"He probably would've called all of us who mourned idiotic simps who should spend their time cultivating anger and getting drunk."

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"He probably would've called all of us who mourned idiotic simps who should spend their time cultivating anger and getting drunk."