Journalistic Fraud

I thought that the admission from the editor of the Seattle Times, Dave Boardman, that reporters were not unbiased was  refreshing. (Some of my regular commenters disagreed). My point was that there has been this illusion of its own impartiality pimped by the media that simply isn't true. Boardman at least acknowledged that - a real rarity in the news business. But Randall Hoven over at The American Thinker has taken all this a step further and documented a lot of journalistic malpractice in the real world. It is pretty darned ugly. A long list that has to be alphabetized often is.

  1. Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press (2005).  Lying/fabricating.  In his sports column, he described alumni players at a basketball game who were not even there.
  2. Stephen Ambrose, historian/author (2002).  Plagiarism.  He was almost a book "factory", writing eight books in five years.  But that apparently came easier when parts were copied from other books, without attribution.
  3. Associated Press (AP)  (2005).  Fell for hoax and phony photo.  The AP ran a story, with a photo, about a soldier held hostage in Iraq.  The photo turned out to be that of an action figure doll; there was no such soldier.
  4. Mike Barnicle, Boston Globe (1998).  Lying/fabricating and plagiarism.  Totally made up stories, including one about a black kid and a white kid with cancer.  Also used quotes from George Carlin as his own.  Fired from the Boston Globe.
  5. Maria Bartiromo, CNBC (2007).  Conflict of interest.  She dated a Citicorp executive and received special treatment from him, and also owned stock in Citicorp while doing financial reporting for CNBC, including reporting on Citicorp.
  6. Scott Beauchamp, The New Republic (2007).  Lying.  TNR hired this U.S. Army private and husband of one of its own reporters to write first-hand accounts from Iraq.  One of his accounts, supposedly demonstrating the dehumanizing effects of the Iraq war on him and fellow soldiers, occurred in Kuwait before Beauchamp even entered Iraq.  Other parts of his writing are likely false, and if not, constitute military crimes on his part.  In fact, his anonymous writing from a war zone is likely against military rules.  This story is currently unfolding.
  7. Nada Behziz, The Bakersfield Californian (2005).  Lying/fabricating and plagiarism.  Writing mostly on health issues, she plagiarized from the New York Times and AP, made up sources, and got basic facts wrong.  An investigation counted 29 fabricated or plagiarized articles.  She also lied on her resume.  She was fired.

That is only the first seven - there are a lot more. The list totals over 60 entries. Some of the offenders were fired, others still have jobs. Still others have better jobs. Hoven is looking for anyone who has a more complete list or more examples.

categories Media | Gaius Thursday, 16 August , 2007

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