Template:Did you know nominations/Rachel Kollock McDowell

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by BlueMoonset (talk) 21:22, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Rachel Kollock McDowell

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... that Franklin D. Roosevelt at a major press conference said the reporter Rachel Kollock McDowell was "worth waiting 50 minutes for?"
ALT 1:... that Rachel Kollock McDowell, nicknamed Lady Bishop, in 1935 was described by Time magazine as "probably the ablest religious editor of any U. S. newspaper"?
ALT 2:... that Rachel Kollock McDowell, a religion editor nicknamed Lady Bishop, was entombed in the mausoleum of Princess Anastasia of Greece?

ALT 3: that Rachel Kollock McDowell, founder of the Pure Language League against profanity, became the first religious news editor of the New York Times and was nicknamed "Lady Bishop"?

Created/expanded by Parkwells (talk). Self nom at 23:26, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

Reviewed Mezcala culture Parkwells (talk) 15:35, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

As reported by another reporter, are there other eye witnesses? The hook is a bit clunky too. Secretlondon (talk) 17:49, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Haven't been able to find another cite. Have proposed two other DYK hooks; the content on the Princess Anastasia mausoleum is also from the Berger feature story. Have not found another source.Parkwells (talk) 22:53, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Having looked at several of the cited sources, I think there are some interesting hook possibilities related to her religious devotion, her personal crusade against profanity and for "pure language", and her nickname of "Lady Bishop", which was related to those characteristics. (For example, ... that New York Times religious news editor Rachel Kollock McDowell was known for her opposition to the use of profane language and was given the nickname "Lady Bishop"?) However, I don't see any of that flavor in the article. --Orlady (talk) 22:35, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Berger wrote that her nickname came from her "unchallenged pre-eminence as a religious news editor", not the anti-profanity cause. Added more on her crusade against profanity, but she also seemed to have earned respect as a reporter/editor. See ALT hook 3 above. Parkwells (talk) 11:47, 16 May 2012 (UTC)

You're correct. Thanks for correcting me. --Orlady (talk) 04:24, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Article is long enough, new enough, adequately footnoted, and sufficiently different from the sources. All of the hook facts are verified, but I'm not particularly fond of any of them. As Secretlondon points out, the first hook is hearsay. All of the ALT hooks attempt to put too much into one hook, and ALT2's "entombed" wording is seriously misleading. Let's try some alternative wording:

ALT4: ... that Rachel Kollock McDowell got the nickname "Lady Bishop" for her work as first religion editor of the New York Times?

ALT5: ... that New York Times religion editor Rachel Kollock McDowell got locked inside a princess' tomb in pursuit of a news story? --Orlady (talk) 04:24, 17 May 2012 (UTC)