Jack Kelley of USA Today: fibber

[SteveDallas]

OK, we got ANOTHER reporter who falsified stories.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...day_reporter_7

At this point, it's starting to look reasonable to ask, is anybody NOT making stuff up?

[be-bop]

Thought it was pretty par for the course with reporters.whats that old adage "Never let facts get in the way of a good story".
The world's press is so full of spin,sound bytes and attention grabbing headlines the actual story bears no relation to reality in many cases.
Research in many stories is shocking,sloppy and just not up to the job.

[wolf]

Horrified as I am by the story .... I don't think that anyone has ever expected USAToday (aka "The McPaper") to be a bastion of great journalism.

[Beestie]

I read in the WaPo (paper edition) that Jayson Blair's book has sold about 2,200 or so copies. You know, the book about burning down the Master's house.

He said at a recent get together here that his darkest moment was at a reunion when he saw an old classmate. Upon seeing her, he said wtte "My, you are beautiful." She replied: "Great, I've just been called beautiful by the biggest liar in journalism."

Karma is in effect, it would seem.

[tw]

Originally posted by SteveDallas
OK, we got ANOTHER reporter who falsified stories.

At this point, it's starting to look reasonable to ask, is anybody NOT making stuff up?

Every industry has liars. How did we end up in the Spanish American war? Hearst publications outrightly lied - even claiming the explosion of the USS Maine was terrrorists. But at least the news industry exposes its liars. How often do we read about lying lawyers getting the boot.

Starr who chased Clintons penis - what was his previous job? He first removed all evidence in GM that Malibus were exploding and burning occupants alive - and GM knew it would happen. Then when discovery papers were filed, he went back to those same files and claimed (accurately) that no evidence existed. We know this story only because a GM engineer was told he would loose his pension if he told the truth. When he retired, he told the story anyway. Nader confirmed it and put the story in his book.

So where is Ken Starr and all those lying lawyers? Still in practice. A few lying reporters does not make a corrupt newspaper industry. But no lawyers being debarred should be a major scandel. No big four accounting firms being sued for conspiracy to cook the books should cause you outrage. Billy Tauzin of LA who refused to provide investigation money for corporate fraud investigations should make you outright angry. But instead we denegrate the entire news industry only because it found a liar?

Please show some perspective and maybe one foot in the world of reality. Start with names like Ken Starr and other liars like George Jr. These people lied for far worse reasons.

[Beestie]

But instead we denegrate the entire news industry only because it found a liar?

We expect lawyers to lie. We expect journalists to expose them. When the guardians become the liars, its a much bigger problem than when sharks act like sharks.

[tw]

Originally posted by Beestie
We expect lawyers to lie.

We expect officers of the court to outright destroy evidence? You must claim to make your above statement a truth. Are you saying it is normal and acceptable for lawyers to tamper with or destroy evidence? That is what Ken Starr did. Do you endorse his lying as acceptable and normal?

[Beestie]

Originally posted by tw
We expect officers of the court to outright destroy evidence? You must claim to make your above statement a truth. Are you saying it is normal and acceptable for lawyers to tamper with or destroy evidence? That is what Ken Starr did. Do you endorse his lying as acceptable and normal?

No, I'm saying that it shocks the conscience when a reporter lies but not when a lawyer does.

[SteveDallas]

All I'm saying is, when something like this happens, you've got to think it's an aberration, or you've got to think it's par for the course. When it comes out about reporter A, it's pretty easy to go for the aberration. And for reporter B, and reporter C. But at some point in the alphabet it's going to stop seeming like an aberration.

That doesn't reflect any more or less outrage on other evildoers.

[Griff]

NPR interviewed a director named Billy Ray this morning. He is doing a film on the subject of lying journalists. He attributes the problem to everbody wanting to be Woodward and Bernstien but nobody wanting to do the work.