New York Daily News the Latest Paper Suckered by Greg Packer
The Daily News article is headlined Revelers pack city as Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade delights young and old:
“It brings out the kid in all of us,” said Greg Packer, 44, of Huntington, L.I. “It’s that sense of togetherness that keeps me coming back.”
That — and the incessant need to be quoted in newspapers.
Don’t feel bad, New York Daily News. Even the New York Times recently fell for Packer’s cheerful brand of obsessive media whoring. You’re not alone.
Is it him or is it lazy reporters who know they can get a quote for any story and have his number in their rolodexes ?
Mike K (394db3) — 11/28/2008 @ 9:27 amWith all the “oh no, not him again” mentions such as here and other sites, you have to believe this has become an inside joke of sorts amongst the journalist herd. What are the odds on the random man on street reporter bumping into this guy more than once a decade? His shining moment will be when Chris Berman will quote him as Greg ‘Green Bay’ Packer during an ESPN sportscast.
allan (c6c508) — 11/28/2008 @ 9:52 amFrom the E&P link; Packer sez:
I think saying he doesn’t think they’re “pansies,” Packer is censoring himself because he doesn’t want to kill the pyrite goose.
L.N. Smithee (b048eb) — 11/28/2008 @ 9:57 amHe’s a one-man quotapallooza!
Seriously, does it do any harm to the public good that he’s able to get into so many stories? If he discloses the gullibility of reporters, is that a bad thing?
If only one reporter questions why he get’s exactly the quote he needs to make his story, and thus questions his premises, it’s a good thing, or so it seems to me.
Pious Agnostic (b2c3ab) — 11/28/2008 @ 10:09 amThe Eastern Seaboard has Greg Packer. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we have Frank Chu, a harmless yet genuinely disturbed guy who has for at least eight years been limping around downtown in dark sunglasses carrying a homemade sign with nonsensical messages.
It started in 1998 when he walked around with a sign reading “Impeach Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Nixon.” Eventually, the subject of the signs regularly dealt with the number of galaxies in the universe, and indecipherable concepts, words, and numbers. For example (verbatim):
Chu shows up wherever there are crowds, especially when TV news covers the event. Eventually, someone realized his advertising potential, and now, Chu rarely carries a sign without an ad on the back of the whacked-out message in front.
Frank probably has no idea how meaningless his actions are. OTOH, Packer does, but spends all of his spare time pursuing another opportunity to get his name in print. Makes you wonder which one is more nuts.
L.N. Smithee (b048eb) — 11/28/2008 @ 10:26 amWhen I corrected my inaccurate year in my previous post, I failed to correct my arithmetic.
Frank Chu has been doing his thing for at least ten years.
L.N. Smithee (b048eb) — 11/28/2008 @ 10:33 amGuiltied!
Official Internet Data Office (ac4ed0) — 11/28/2008 @ 11:56 amWell, only a con can get conned, so who would you expect to get whored?
Walter Duranty (88bf29) — 11/28/2008 @ 7:41 pmIs Packer noted in the leftie blogs at all? If yes, then the MSM knows and it’s an inside joke. If not, then the gatekeepers that determine what information we receive are apparently blithering idiots.
Thank goodness that’s not the case as we might have done something crazy like elect a President with nothing more than a microscopic track record and vague, impressively delivered rhetoric.
Bel Air (802704) — 11/28/2008 @ 8:15 pm5,6: Do you think maybe Greg Packer is the Alan Smithee of Old Media? Do we know if Greg Packer is more than one guy?
fat tony (edf3c8) — 11/29/2008 @ 1:18 am