Aren’t reporters supposed to be naturally skeptical? Lately, they’re acting like they’ve all fallen off a big turnip truck — publishing fake information from the Internet left and right.

First a TV reporter in Nashville reports, with a straight face, that it’s against the law to offer “nutrition to a prostitute“; then my old college colleague Jay Stowe, now at Cincinnati Magazine, similarly screws up.

But this tops those. It’s the LA Times, for gosh sakes. As their correction puts it:

An article in Tuesday’s Section A about tensions over the federal effort to reintroduce wolves into parts of the West wrongly attributed to Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal a statement that Wyoming considered the Endangered Species Act no longer in force and “now considers the wolf as a federal dog.” The statement, which was circulated on the Internet, was purportedly from Freudenthal but was in fact a hoax.

Regret the Error reports:

Quite the nonchalant correction for running a hoax quote on page one. Fortunately, the Casper Star-Tribune of Wyoming has a story that explains everything. It seems a Times reporter mistook a fake press release for the real thing and used the quote without verifying it. The Times owes its readers more of an explanation.

Wyoming is also considering a law making it illegal to offer nutrition to a wolf. (Actually, that’s a joke. Do not publish as fact. Thank you.)

Technorati tags: Journalism, PR, Public Relations, Media

Bob Barr, former Republican Congressman and outspoken civil libertarian, has penned a remarkably candid column for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Presidents all the same when scandal strikes.”

Excerpts:

In the best tradition of former President Bill Clinton’s classic, “it-all-depends-on-what-the-meaning-of-is-is” defense, President Bush responded to a question at a White House news conference about what now appears to be a clear violation of federal electronic monitoring laws by trying to argue that he had not ordered the National Security Agency to “monitor” phone and e-mail communications of American citizens without court order; he had merely ordered them to “detect” improper communications.

This example of presidential phrase parsing was followed quickly by the president’s press secretary, Scott McLellan, dead-panning to reporters that when Bush said a couple of years ago that he would never allow the NSA to monitor Americans without a court order, what he really meant was something different than what he actually said…

When caught with a hand in the cookie jar and their survival called into question, administrations circle the wagons, fall back on time-worn but often effective defense mechanisms, and seamlessly morph into one another…

A critical component of White House Scandal Defense 101 is rallying the partisan base. This keeps approval ratings in territory where the wheels don’t start falling off. The way to achieve this goal is you go negative and you don’t let up. If you’re always attacking your accusers, the debate becomes one of Democrat vs. Republican, rather than right vs. wrong…

The signs are everywhere that the Bush White House is busily implementing all parts of this defense strategy. It would be refreshing if it decided to clear the air and actually be honest about its post-Sept. 11 surveillance. However, that’s unlikely.

Too bad politicians can’t be this frank while they’re still in office.

Technorati tags: Bob Barr, Spy Scandal, Public Relations, Politics

Technorati tags: Web 2.0, PR, Blogs, Websites, Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, Media

Blogs are forever. They’re also public — even though many people unwisely treat them as private diaries.

Romenesko reports:

The killing of Paul Berkley just days after his return home from assignment in the Middle East was big news in the Raleigh area. His wife was charged with murder, along with her teenage lover and his friend. “What made the story more juicy is that everyone in the Berkley household kept an online journal, or Web log, of their daily lives,” writes ombud Ted Vaden. “The (News & Observer) was able to tap those blogs to add lush detail to its reporting.”

Readers complained — but it’s not the newspaper’s fault. Blogs are public record and exist in cyberspace for a very, very long time; neither individuals nor companies should take their power lightly.

On a less tragic — but still serious — note, we’re reminded of this college newspaper article flagged by Jeremy Pepper. In it, a junior PR major at ASU tells of her love for “thrill sex” and says she’s had sex in cars “about 40 times with one man.” The woman’s name, and picture, is included in the article.

To the young lady (who we won’t name here): You will be looking for a job someday. For your sake, we hope this article doesn’t come up when your prospective employer plugs your name into Google.

Technorati tags: Journalism, PR, Public Relations, Blogs

PR practitioners are often asked to jump through hoops for their clients … but this is ridiculous.

(Via Break.com)