Friday, August 22, 2008

Beware of the Montauk Monster (and bad journalists)!

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?

Well, some people say it is the decomposing remains of the Montauk Monster. It was allegedly found on the beach on Long Island, NY in July. The image has been widely discussed on the Internet ever since gawker.com made the first report.

Some people have accused the image of having been digitally manipulated. Others report that the monster is part of a movie publicity stunt.

What's the journalist to do? Is this a story?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess I would publish a neutral story, stating that some consider it a hoax and perhaps explore that.

Anonymous said...

I guess I would publish a neutral story, stating that some consider it a hoax and perhaps explore that.

Cara said...

Well it depends entirely on how desperate you are for a story, and most importantly how good of a fluff writer you are. The story, in itself, is nothing out of the ordinary unless you want to make it seem like it is as a journalist. Pictures and stories like this one come up all the time, so for me to see a picture like this finding its way around on the internet is of now surprise. Personally, I don't think the story has enough scientific and factual information to support it. Yes, many people are going to find it interesting, and yes it is definitely something to report on, but the story itself is open to so much speculation. You could definitely get something more out of the story if you have the ability to attain more information from a good reliable source.

Cara said...

I agree with Chris that you good get a pretty good neutral story out of it.

Anonymous said...

It makes a good entertainment story because when people see the image they automatically want to read the story.