Journalistic fraud?
Published July 08, 2003
Please tell me that not all newspaper editors are this stupid:
From MSNBC:
The sports editor of the Roswell Daily Record has been fired for fabricating part of a news story about a golf tournament in which he quoted a fictional character from the movie "Caddyshack."
[Editor Mike] Bush said the story contained three fictitious paragraphs referring to a "Carl Spangler" who claimed to work at the course. In "Caddyshack," Bill Murray played a golf course worker named Carl Spackler.
Jones quoted "Spangler" as saying he invented a new kind of grass for the tournament. The quotation in Jones' story is taken directly from "Caddyshack."
"'This is a hybrid ... of bluegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, featherbed bent and northern California sensemilia (sic),' " Spangler said. 'The amazing stuff about this, is that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt that night on the stuff.' "
Now perhaps this writer could have been a little more careful to make absolutely crystal clear he was making a joke, but who could mistake "take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt" for a real news quote?
Obviously writer Gregory Jones showed no intent to deceive. Could the editor not see the difference between this and Jayson Blair?
- Journalistic fraud?
- Published: July 08, 2003
- Type:
- Section: Culture
- Filed Under: Culture: Media
- Writer: Al Barger
- Al Barger's BC Writer page
- Al Barger's personal site
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