Frey’s Note Both Accepts and Ducks Blame

AP:

NEW YORK – In a rare and dramatic author’s note, James Frey acknowledges alterations and embellishments throughout “A Million Little Pieces,” writing that narrative mattered more than truth in his admittedly fictionalized story of addiction and recovery.

“I wanted the stories in the book to ebb and flow, to have dramatic arcs, to have the tension that all great stories require,” writes Frey, whose three-page note will be included in future editions of the book, to be shipped later this month, and was posted Wednesday on the Web site of his publisher, Doubleday, an imprint of Random House, Inc. | story / author’s note or publisher’s note (both .pdf files)

Truthdig says: Frey still tries to peddle that “subjective truth” crap. Hey James, feelings are subjective; thoughts are subjective; calling a two-hour stay in jail “three months” is objectively BS.

Also, Warner Bros. is having second thoughts about a film adaptation:

AP: James Frey’s Million Little problems are showing no signs of going away.

Shortly after Oprah Winfrey publicly drummed the discredited memoirist out of her book club, Warner Bros. announced that it was having second thoughts about going forward with a planned film adaptation of Frey’s A Million Little Pieces.

“We’re reevaluating our position on what to do,” Warner Bros. President Alan Horn told the Los Angeles Times Friday. “Obviously, we watch Oprah and, like everybody else, we’re aware of the change in authenticity of this piece.” | story
And Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) asks a fair question about the issue:

FAIR: With great fanfare the other day, Oprah Winfrey asked James Frey a question that mainstream journalists refuse to ask George W. Bush: “Why would you lie?”

Many pundits and news outlets have chortled at the televised unmasking of Frey as a liar. The reverberations have spanned from schlock media to highbrow outlets. On Friday, the PBS NewsHour With Jim Lehrer devoted an entire segment to what happened. The New York Times supplemented its page-one coverage with an editorial that concluded “Ms. Winfrey gave the audience, including us, what it was hoping for: a demand to hear the truth.”

A key reality of the National Security Agency spying story is: President Bush lied. But routinely missing from media coverage is a demand to hear the truth. | story