THE BOSTON HERALD ran a simple correction in Monday's paper:An article in today’s Herald regarding comments purportedly made by Vice President Dick Cheney was inaccurate and should have noted that it was based on a blogger’s satire and was not provided by the Associated Press.
What exactly did they get wrong? Check out this quote from their original story:
“To be frank, Hillary Clinton’s stories about her adventures with guns don’t exactly pass the smell test,” the vice president told host Tim Russert. “If she really wants to show that she knows how to handle a rifle, there’s an easy way to do that: meet me in the woods.”
Turns out the quote and the entire story were false, a bit of satire from humorist Andy Borowitz.
Who is at fault here? Did the Boston Herald goof up in not realizing this was a hoax? Should Borowitz be blamed for duping the Herald, and later the public? Do either the Clinton campaign or Cheney have the right to be upset?
Is this just the product of the modern cyber-journalism, and if so, how do we avoid such things, especially when they involve important matters like a presidential race?
3 comments:
I think the Herald should check out their sources some more before running such crazy stories. The blogger, Borowitz, isn't at fault here, he's a humorist so a story like this can only be expected.However, this really displays how modern cyber-journalism is taking over and influencing major newspapers. We really have to be careful as to where we get our sources and read everything with an open mind.
I bet The Herald saw a scoop and ran with the story without checking their sources. In todays media we all know that journalism has become something that the Professor hates....a business. There is a rush get stories out. Have to beat the other guys, at all cost.
Paul klein
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