Thursday, December 6, 2012

Don't do this. Ever!

Sources that don't exist?  Really?!

A reporter for The Cape Cod Times recently admitted to fabricating a number of people in articles she had written since the late nineties, as well as giving other sources false names, without letting readers know of the use of pseudonyms:
Times editors have been unable to find 69 people in 34 stories since 1998, when we began archiving stories electronically.

Check the story here.

The good news is that the paper apologized.  Why they didn't notice sooner is beyond me.  The reporter no longer has a job.   Better news still.

Baffled.  Why on earth would a reporter do this?  Didn't she know that this is indefensible?  See Shattered Glass.   bk