DETROIT — There's a new chapter being written in the Cult of Celebrity handbook -- one with no spoiled athletes, playgirl heiresses or adulterous movie stars involved.
It's taking place in the unlikely world of newspapers, a field with so few national superstars that it is usually hard-pressed to come up with a decent scandal. True, there were the Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair affairs. But they were just promising up-and-comers, unknown to the general public until they went bad.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday April 23, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 38 words Type of Material: Correction
Mitch Albom -- An article in Friday's Calendar section about Detroit Free Press writer Mitch Albom identified NBA players Mateen Cleaves and Jason Richardson as graduates of Michigan State University. They attended the university, but did not graduate.
This one involves an honest-to-goodness luminary: Mitch Albom.
He's won every award that sports journalism has to offer. But what elevates Albom's indiscretion into the realm of celebrity scandal is that his fame goes way beyond the world of newspapers. This is the guy who wrote "Tuesdays With Morrie" and "The Five People You Meet in Heaven," both inspirational mega-sellers. He's a playwright, a syndicated radio host and a regular on ESPN's "The Sports Reporters."
And he's one of Oprah's pals.
So when parts of one of Albom's columns turned out to be fictional, people took notice.
First, a bit about his transgression.
Because of the deadline quirks at his paper, the Detroit Free Press, Albom files his Sunday general interest column two days early -- on Friday. That presented a dilemma when Michigan State University was scheduled to play in the NCAA men's basketball semifinals on Saturday night, April 2 in St. Louis. Albom's column dealt with two MSU grads -- Mateen Cleaves and Jason Richardson, both now pro basketball players -- who were going to the tournament to watch their old college team play.
Albom's solution? He disregarded the fact that he was writing 24 hours before the game.
"They sat in the stands, in their MSU clothing, and rooted on their alma mater," Albom wrote. He went on to give readers details on how they had flown in for the game. "Richardson, who earns millions, flew by private plane. Cleaves, who's on his fourth team in five years, bought a ticket and flew commercial."
But in one of those twists that turn mundane stories into legends, Cleaves and Richardson changed their minds. Neither one attended the game, rendering Albom's touching story a piece of fiction.
The story wasn't malicious or libelous, but it was a fabrication, one that was syndicated to scores of newspapers. (The Free Press is a Knight Ridder publication, but the column is distributed by Tribune Media Services., part of Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times.) The Free Press published apologies by Albom and Free Press Editor and Publisher Carole Leigh Hutton.
