Dude! Your lede stinks!

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Mon Feb 10, 2003 5:52 pm

I wish this wasn't real. It is. NEW YORK (AP) … Dude! The actor who gained fame and a cult
following as the slacker ``Steven'' in commercials for Dell
computers was arrested buying a small bag of marijuana, police
said.

Guest · **Posted:** Mon Feb 10, 2003 6:23 pm

The question is, will Dell fire him or give him a big fat ... raise?Also ... how many papers won't be able to resist putting this on their front pages as a "bright"?

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Mon Feb 10, 2003 6:55 pm

Any paper that puts this on the front page, or anywhere other than the People in the News trough, is run by idiots.

Karenna Awtry · **Posted:** Mon Feb 10, 2003 7:38 pm

I braced myself for the battle when I presented our nation/world budget this afternoon. However, someone wanted Cats&Dogs (AP's tasty little lede on a dull, dull census story), so there was no mention of Steve ... or of Catherine Zeta Jones' lawsuit.Thank god local news happened, or we'd have had a hold-to-the-front bright about pets. 'Course, that might have appeased one local reader who called in to the main newsroom line tonight and chewed whoever answered about our newly Muslim paper. We ran a standalone CP of the hajj in today's paper. The ME suggests we answer the phones, "The Sun News, praise Allah."

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Tue Feb 11, 2003 12:18 am

More crap...
By MARC SANTORA
c.2003 New York Times News Service NEW YORK … When he is selling Dell computers on television,
he calls everyone ``dude.'' But on Monday, he was calling a
Manhattan judge ``ma'am.''

rumymommy · **Joined:** Tue Aug 06, 2002 12:01 am **Posts:** 138

There's no reason to run this story. So what if the guy in the Dell commercials bought a small bag of weed? He wasn't selling. It's a very minor criminal offense. It's not like he was starring in anti-drug spots. He's not being paid with public funds.Let the tabloids do stories about every commercial actor who was busted for drugs. Yeah, I know I'll lose the peek-into-celebrity-lives argument because the people like to read about them. We have to give the people what they want, of course. I just find it sad that news organizations have manpower to spend on a nothing incident like this and yet there's such shoddy reporting on real issues. Or missed reporting because some pencil jockey got stuck going to a courtroom for the "Dude, you're gettin a Dell" guy.

Guest · **Posted:** Tue Feb 11, 2003 1:17 am

Ehhh ... I wouldn't go THAT far. It is news, and it is hilarious, and it is what a lot of people will be giggling about tomorrow -- the dude is a singularly ubiquitous presence on TV. Which is why, as Bumf suggested, it properly belongs as an item in your paper's "People" column (or whatever you call it). Three inches max, I'd say.

Guest · **Posted:** Tue Feb 11, 2003 1:31 am

Inaccurate headline on cnn.com: "Dude, you're getting a cell" ....

zfriloux · **Posted:** Tue Feb 11, 2003 1:50 am

Our headline is something like "He may not have to say 'Dude, I'm goin' to jail." It is in our people column. We did, however, use that dull dog/cat/bird/horse census story on the front page. (Random statistic: Households making less than $20,000/year are more likely to have a bird than a dog.)

aneye4detail · **Posted:** Tue Feb 11, 2003 1:53 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Jim Thomsen:
Inaccurate headline on cnn.com: "Dude, you're getting a cell" ....<hr></blockquote>What's the inaccuracy? That's the best one yet.

zfriloux · **Posted:** Tue Feb 11, 2003 2:16 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by aneye4detail:
What's the inaccuracy? That's the best one yet.<hr></blockquote>He didn't get jail time, at least not yet. If he avoids being arrested over the next year, his record will be clean.

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