Comments on: LA Times in the middle of a fake documents scandal of their own http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2008/03/27/la-times-in-the-middle-of-a-fake-documents-scandal-of-their-own/ Don't dis or dismiss this miss! Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:23:12 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Leslie http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2008/03/27/la-times-in-the-middle-of-a-fake-documents-scandal-of-their-own/comment-page-1/#comment-738685 Leslie Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:20:00 +0000 http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2008/03/27/la-times-in-the-middle-of-a-fake-documents-scandal-of-their-own/#comment-738685 Howie Kurtz has the whole sad story in the Post. <a href="http://tinyurl.com/2cw5eu" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><strong>LINK</strong></a> Ironically, the smoking gun was the reverse of what happened to Dan Rather, as Howie Kurtz explains: <blockquote> William Bastone, the Smoking Gun's editor, said he immediately "thought something smelled" after looking at the FBI documents posted on the paper's Web site -- particularly the fact that they appeared to originate from a typewriter, although the bureau's agents switched to computers about 30 years ago. The humiliation for the Times is reminiscent of the black eye that CBS received for using what the network presented as National Guard records in Dan Rather's 2004 report on President Bush's military service. </blockquote> Haven't journalists learned (a) that when a story seems to good to be true, it probably is (except, I suppose when Elliot Spitzer is involved) and (b) to pay as much attention to the look and feel of the "document" as they do to its text. :o Howie Kurtz has the whole sad story in the Post.

LINK

Ironically, the smoking gun was the reverse of what happened to Dan Rather, as Howie Kurtz explains:

William Bastone, the Smoking Gun’s editor, said he immediately “thought something smelled” after looking at the FBI documents posted on the paper’s Web site — particularly the fact that they appeared to originate from a typewriter, although the bureau’s agents switched to computers about 30 years ago.

The humiliation for the Times is reminiscent of the black eye that CBS received for using what the network presented as National Guard records in Dan Rather’s 2004 report on President Bush’s military service.

Haven’t journalists learned (a) that when a story seems to good to be true, it probably is (except, I suppose when Elliot Spitzer is involved) and (b) to pay as much attention to the look and feel of the “document” as they do to its text.

:o

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