Irish student hoaxes world's media with fake quote

[redqueen]

Irish student hoaxes world's media with florid but phony quote from dead French composer
Shawn Pogatchnik, Associated Press Writer
On Monday May 11, 2009, 12:07 pm EDT

DUBLIN (AP) -- 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.

(snip)

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.

The student is very kind to blame "deadline pressure" for the outlets' failure to conform to standards.

[Drunken Irishman]

1. I'm disappointed.

If you're going to fake a quote, why not make it a good quote and not something lame like that?

[redqueen]

2. I think he did a fine job. (nt)

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Meh, if you're going to go that far...

I think you should at least make the quote humorous.

That quote was lame.

:P

[Renew Deal]

4. He had to pick something that a lot of people would write about at once.

I get why he would do it.

[redqueen]

15. That's what I figured as well.

Had to be something fairly innocuous.

[uppityperson]

5. Proving why wiki works only if there is a reference to what is there

I like wiki as it can be a good place IF things are referenced. Fast source to find references, but would never take what is there seriously until it is referenced.

This is pretty funny

[redqueen]

6. Exactly. It's the perfect vehicle for people to learn

to read *critically*.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. So, you're one of these fact-reliant people, eh?

Facts are for people who can't handle the truthiness!

http://www.wikiality.com/Truthiness

[uppityperson]

10. yup, that is me, shame since I am ordinarily such a nice person otherwise

[ColbertWatcher]

16. Nice, if not a bit "uppity."

:P

[Captain Hilts]

7. Hey - I'm a Jarre fan! nt

[redqueen]

9. Well I hope you weren't offended by the fake quote.

It was for a good cause, IMO.

:)

[Captain Hilts]

11. I agree. People want quick news, not accurate news. Look how folks here grab and run with

some really stupid things from unidentified sources.

[redqueen]

12. Or just make assumptions based on snippets.

Or worse, only the headline.

[WeDidIt]

13. This shows what the lazy corporate media allows to happen

If you think this is the only time the lazy corporate media simply repeated the same lies over and over again until they became the truth, I've got a war in Iraq to sell you.

[redqueen]

14. Nobody here thinks that...

but I wonder how many people elsewhere have caught on.

[redqueen]

17. One shameless self-kick...

cause I thought this was pretty cool.

:kick: