Irish student hoaxes world's media with fake quote

[geronimotwo]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Irish-student-hoaxes-worlds-apf-15201451.html?.v=1

When Dublin university student Shane Fitzgerald posted a poetic but phony quote on Wikipedia, he was testing how our globalized, increasingly Internet-dependent media was upholding accuracy and accountability in an age of instant news.

His report card: Wikipedia passed. Journalism flunked.

The sociology major's obituary-friendly quote -- which he added to the Wikipedia page of Maurice Jarre hours after the French composer's death March 28 -- flew straight on to dozens of U.S. blogs and newspaper Web sites in Britain, Australia and India. They used the fabricated material, Fitzgerald said, even though administrators at the free online encyclopedia twice caught the quote's lack of attribution and removed it.

A full month went by and nobody noticed the editorial fraud. So Fitzgerald told several media outlets they'd swallowed his baloney whole.

"I was really shocked at the results from the experiment," Fitzgerald, 22, said Monday in an interview a week after one newspaper at fault, The Guardian of Britain, became the first to admit its obituarist lifted material straight from Wikipedia.

"I am 100 percent convinced that if I hadn't come forward, that quote would have gone down in history as something Maurice Jarre said, instead of something I made up," he said. "It would have become another example where, once anything is printed enough times in the media without challenge, it becomes fact."

So far, The Guardian is the only publication to make a public mea culpa, while others have eliminated or amended their online obituaries without any reference to the original version -- or in a few cases, still are citing Fitzgerald's florid prose weeks after he pointed out its true origin.

"One could say my life itself has been one long soundtrack," Fitzgerald's fake Jarre quote read. "Music was my life, music brought me to life, and music is how I will be remembered long after I leave this life. When I die there will be a final waltz playing in my head that only I can hear."

Fitzgerald said one of his University College Dublin classes was exploring how quickly information was transmitted around the globe. His private concern was that, under pressure to produce news instantly, media outlets were increasingly relying on Internet sources -- none more ubiquitous than the publicly edited Wikipedia.

When he saw British 24-hour news channels reporting the death of the triple Oscar-winning composer, Fitzgerald sensed what he called "a golden opportunity" for an experiment on media use of Wikipedia.

He said it took him less than 15 minutes to fabricate and place a quote calculated to appeal to obituary writers without distorting Jarre's actual life experiences. He noted that the Wikipedia listing on Jarre did not have any other strong quotes.

If anything, Fitzgerald said, he expected newspapers to avoid his quote because it had no link to a source -- and even might trigger alarms as "too good to be true." But many blogs and several newspapers used the quotes at the start or finish of their obituaries.

He said the Guardian was the only publication to respond to him in detail and with remorse at its own editorial failing. Others, he said, treated him as a vandal who was solely to blame for their cut-and-paste content.

"The moral of this story is not that journalists should avoid Wikipedia, but that they shouldn't use information they find there if it can't be traced back to a reliable primary source," said the readers' editor at the Guardian, Siobhain Butterworth, in the May 4 column that revealed Fitzgerald as the quote author.

"It's worrying that the misinformation only came to light because the perpetrator of the deception emailed publishers to let them know what he'd done, and it's regrettable that he took nearly a month to do so," she wrote.

Fitzgerald said he had waited in part to test whether news organizations or the public would smoke out the quote's lack of provenance. He said he was troubled that none did.

And he warned that a truly malicious hoaxer could have evaded Wikipedia's own informal policing by getting a newspaper to pick up a false piece of information -- as happened when his quote made its first of three appearances -- and then use those newspaper reports as a credible footnote for the bogus quote.

"I didn't want to be devious," he said. "I just wanted to show how the 24-hour, minute-by-minute media were now taking material straight from Wikipedia because of the deadline pressure they're under."

although only a quote for an obituary, this article makes the news system seem rather pathetic.

can anyone think of a great piece of investigative reporting that has been written recently?

[ilbob]

Not like this is anything new.

newpapers for many years have published stuff as fact that are really barely disguised press releases.

sometimes they attribute it to the source, but often they just report it as fact with no checking at all.

[RoadKingLarry]

There are no more "journalists". There hasn't been any in many years. Most of what passes for journalism in the US today is the fetid regurgitaion of political talking points, foist on an ignorant and ever decreasingly litterate population by sycophantic toadies.

[Monkeyleg]

After witnessing the media's repetition of complete falsehoods regarding guns, why would anyone on this forum be surprised by this story?

[Perd Hapley]

This helps us to understand the press's affection for a certain Teleprompter-reader.

There are no more "journalists". There hasn't been any in many years. Most of what passes for journalism in the US today is the fetid regurgitaion of political talking points, foist on an ignorant and ever decreasingly litterate population by sycophantic toadies.

Does anyone else see the irony in this critique of journalism?    Sorry, RKL, pet peeve of mine.

[Racehorse]

As others have alluded to, I find it fascinating how many grammatical mistakes and spelling errors get introduced between "copy" and "paste."

[gunsmith]

There are no more "journalists". There hasn't been any in many years. Most of what passes for journalism in the US today is the fetid regurgitaion of political talking points, foist on an ignorant and ever decreasingly litterate population by sycophantic toadies.

RKL! you're 100% correct except maybe you could have used "foisted upon" and perhaps spelled regurgitation and literate correctly
Hat tip fistful, its ( it's ? ) all his fault!

On topic, yeah, it is distressing, how is it that a high school dropout like me who only has a GED seems to have a better grasp of history and simple facts then people who have college degree's?

Also, I'm broke and jobless, it is depressing that incredibly stupid people manage to have much more material wealth then I do.
Now, if I can only master using its, it's, then, & than correctly...sigh...whats the use?

[makattak]

RKL! you're 100% correct except maybe you could have used "foisted upon" and perhaps spelled regurgitation and literate correctly
Hat tip fistful, its ( it's ? ) all his fault!

On topic, yeah, it is distressing, how is it that a high school dropout like me who only has a GED seems to have a better grasp of history and simple facts then people who have college degree's?

Also, I'm broke and jobless, it is depressing that incredibly stupid people manage to have much more material wealth then I do.
Now, if I can only master using its, it's, then, & than correctly...sigh...whats the use?

it's


it's= it is

its= belonging to it

[RoadKingLarry]

This helps us to understand the press's affection for a certain Teleprompter-reader.


Does anyone else see the irony in this critique of journalism?    Sorry, RKL, pet peeve of mine.

I've never claimed to be a journalist nor an English major. I didn't realize I was going to be graded. It was also typed on a laptop with a small display and a smaller keyboard that doesn't play well with my slightly arthritic hands. Heck, I couldn't even see my typo's till I pulled it up from home. But hey, if nitpicking extemporaneous postings on a informal forum for typo's grammar and punctuation makes you feel superior then have at it.  

[Regolith]

Not in the least bit surprising.


(Mostly because I've seen it happen before first-hand).

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

The guy makes an interesting point.  The press reports something false, repeats it far and wide, and eventually the falsehood becomes the historical record and is accepted as fact.

[seeker_two]

Not in the least bit surprising.


(Mostly because I've seen it happen before first-hand).

Same here....taglines and deadlines beat out truth and fairness in today's media....

[LadySmith]

The guy makes an interesting point.  The press reports something false, repeats it far and wide, and eventually the falsehood becomes the historical record and is accepted as fact.

I don't want to Godwin the thread, but somebody with a funny mustache said a long time ago that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes accepted as truth.

[FTA84]

it's
it's= it is

its= belonging to it

The 's is a mechanical device showing possession; any other noun, proper or not, placed before 's can be used to show possession.  This rule holds except if the noun is "it".

On the other hand, contractions are, well, contractions.  They are to writing what slang is to speech.  Why does the contraction (a lazy man's device) supersede the mechanical use of 's for possession?

Does anyone know the history of this?  Why is English is such a stupid language?

[makattak]

The 's is a mechanical device showing possession; any other noun, proper or not, placed before 's shows possession.  This rule holds except if the noun is "it".

On the other hand, contractions are, well, contractions.  They are to writing what slang is to speech.  Why does the contraction (a lazy man's device) supersede the mechanical use of 's for possession?

Does anyone know the history of this?  Why is English is such a stupid language?

He's going to the store.

She's going to the store.

It's going to blow.

Bob's going down again.

Anna's out of her mind.

Cat's out!

[Regolith]

The 's is a mechanical device showing possession; any other noun, proper or not, placed before 's shows possession.  This rule holds except if the noun is "it".

On the other hand, contractions are, well, contractions.  They are to writing what slang is to speech.  Why does the contraction (a lazy man's device) supersede the mechanical use of 's for possession?

Does anyone know the history of this?  Why is English is such a stupid language?

Actually, all possessive pronouns don't have an apostraphe:

mine
hers
his
theirs
yours
its

[BReilley]

Am I the only one whose first thought was "is nothing sacred?"  I understand that the guy is dead and all, but can't we prove a point without defacing someone's memory?

The next thought was along the lines of what's been mentioned above, i.e. nobody should be surprised by the absence of fact-checking by the media.  The industry is more concerned with being the first to have any story or break any news that they forsake any other duties they may have.

I believe in open access to information, but I believe that Wikipedia is a patently Bad Idea.  It may have been born of Good Intentions, but there are enough stupid people around to ruin *any* smart people party.

[Monkeyleg]

He's going to the store.

She's going to the store.

It's going to blow.

Bob's going down again.

Anna's out of her mind.

Cat's out!

Johnny's in the basement
Mixin' up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinkin' 'bout the government

Don't ask me why, that just popped into my head.

[Regolith]

I believe in open access to information, but I believe that Wikipedia is a patently Bad Idea.  It may have been born of Good Intentions, but there are enough stupid people around to ruin *any* smart people party.

The trick with Wikipedia is to take everything it says with a grain of salt, and verify before using the information for anything official.

For a lot of its content it's at least as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica, and as such makes a great place to start out at while doing research.  It should never be the sole source of information while performing research, however.

[gunsmith]

I've never claimed to be a journalist nor an English major. I didn't realize I was going to be graded. It was also typed on a laptop with a small display and a smaller keyboard that doesn't play well with my slightly arthritic hands. Heck, I couldn't even see my typo's till I pulled it up from home. But hey, if nitpicking extemporaneous postings on a informal forum for typo's grammar and punctuation makes you feel superior then have at it.  

Oh no sir, it was all done with admiration for a fine sentiment.

[Iain]

The guy makes an interesting point.  The press reports something false, repeats it far and wide, and eventually the falsehood becomes the historical record and is accepted as fact.

There are more than a few famous quotes like that. The Churchill quote used to bash liberals for having no brain for example. Never said it.

[seeker_two]

The trick with Wikipedia is to take everything it says with a grain of salt, and verify before using the information for anything official.

Agreed....it's a good place to go for a quick and dirty understanding of a subject, but it shouldn't be a sole or definitive source....

[FTA84]

He's going to the store.

She's going to the store.

It's going to blow.

Bob's going down again.

Anna's out of her mind.

Cat's out!

Sorry, I clarified my sentence.  Of course contractions are there, my point was to show possession you only need to use 's.

I think that Regolith clarified it. 

Where as, I was thinking its came from setting dog=it, dog's leg would become it's leg.  However, as Regolith pointed out, its is our chosen possesive form for the pronoun it, not a replacement.  Just as he's leg and him's leg are replaced by his leg.

Excellent.  Sorry for sidetracking the post.

[makattak]

Sorry, I clarified my sentence.  Of course contractions are there, my point was to show possession you only need to use 's.

I think that Regolith clarified it. 

Where as, I was thinking its came from setting dog=it, dog's leg would become it's leg.  However, as Regolith pointed out, its is our chosen possesive form for the pronoun it, not a replacement.  Just as he's leg and him's leg are replaced by his leg.

Excellent.  Sorry for sidetracking the post.

It is a relic from when English still had declension in their nouns.

I
me
my
we
us
our

Only our pronouns still have declension. Almost all other nouns have lost all declension: dog is both the nominative and accusative form. All we need for plural is an "s" (Genrally nouns taken from the latin still have some of their declension: Alumnus, alumni for example)

Our genetive and dative have been taken over by the 's and prepositions.