Talk:Bill Lawrence (news personality)

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Journalism

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Mislabeled photograph at Wikimedia Commons File:Bill Lawrence journalist.JPG

There are three separate matters to be addressed regarding the image File:Bill Lawrence journalist.JPG which was appended to this biographical entry on November 10, 2013 and, fifteen days later, on November 25, was replaced with File:Howard K. Smith and William Lawrence 1968.JPG. First, the explanatory page, attached to the back of the mislabeled File:Bill Lawrence journalist.JPG photograph, is stamped in large letters with the name of Maryland's largest-circulation newspaper, THE BALTIMORE SUN. The explanatory page's blue-colored text, typed in uppercase letters, is dated 2/9/39, and date-stamped FEB 11 1939. The content references a sixty-two-year-old amnesia victim in Jackson, Mississippi named William H. Lawrence who has recovered his memory after having spent eight years in the state hospital as the "celebrated 'Mr. X' of radio, magazine and newspaper fame". He had originally taken a hypnotic drug which obscured his memory and, at the time of this story, in February 1939, had been given another drug which enabled him to remember his name, age and other details.

Second, the image on the front of the photograph, which portrays a man who appears to be around the age described in the explanatory page, sixty-two. He is dressed in a suit, white shirt and tie and is standing in front of a microphone inscribed with the letters CBS, which makes it appear as if he may be a newscaster for the CBS Radio Network. However, since he is otherwise unidentified, viewers of the photo may also be justified in presuming that he is, in fact, the amnesia victim "of radio, magazine and newspaper fame". Whether William H. Lawrence, the amnesia victim, made radio broadcasts in the manner of an experienced radio personality, remains to be determined.

Third, and most important, the William H. Lawrence of File:Bill Lawrence journalist.JPG is not the same person as The New York Times journalist who worked for The Times from 1941 to 1961 and used the byline "William H. Lawrence" or "W. H. Lawrence". He was born in January 1916 and was 23 years old in February 1939. For the last eleven years of his life, 1961 to 1972, he was an on-air news personality at ABC News, where he was known as Bill Lawrence. There are many photographs of him, including one at Wikimedia Commons, indicated as File:Howard K. Smith and William Lawrence 1968.JPG, which is being used to replace this File:Bill Lawrence journalist.JPG as illustration in the article Bill Lawrence (news personality). The incorrectly-indicated photograph should be relabeled or deleted. —Roman Spinner (talk)(contribs) 06:24, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]