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Journalistic scandals can be generally defined as high-profile acts, whether intentional or accidental, that run contrary to the ideal mission of journalism to report news events and issues accurately and fairly. Scandals can come in may forms, such as plagiarism, fabrication and omission of information, breaking the law or violating established ethical rules to get a story, staging or altering the event being documented, or just getting a story wrong from start to finish.

Despite many different forms, all journalistic scandals have the common factor that they call the integrity and truthfulness of journalism into question, often shifting public focus and scrutiny onto the media rather than the subject of the news story.

Because credibility is journalism's sole currency, many news agencies and mass media outlets do in fact have strict codes of conduct and enforce them, and have layers of editorial oversight to catch problems before stories are distributed. However, in many of the cases listed below, investigations later found that long-established journalistic checks and balances in the newsrooms either spectacularly failed or were intentionally ignored to rush a story deemed important.

High-profile journalism scandals

Walter Duranty, The New York Times (1930s)

Walter Duranty, who covered the Soviet Union for The New York Times, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for a series of articles he wrote about Josef Stalin's effort to industrialize the nation. However, his stories not only uncritically backed Stalinist propaganda, but also denied that the Ukrainian famine, which killed millions as a direct or indirect result of Stalinist planning, ever took place. Despite his denials in print, he allegedly confided to a British diplomat that Ukraine had been bled white. Duranty also defended Stalin's infamous show trials.

Despite efforts by Ukrainian groups to get the prize revoked, the Pulitzer board refuses to do so and the Times still lists Duranty among its prize winners, albeit with a footnote that his work is disputed.

Janet Cooke, Washington Post (1980-1981)

Janet Cooke was a reporter for the Washington Post during the early 1980s. In 1980 her story, "Jimmy's World", about an 8 year old heroin addict, sparked a frenzied 17-day scouring of Washington, D.C. at the behest of then-Mayor Marion Barry, in search of child addicts: none were found. Nevertheless, the article won a 1981 Pulitzer Prize for journalism. The day after Cooke won the award, her editors confronted her about discrepencies in her resume brought to their attention by The Toledo Blade, where she once worked, such as her fraudulent claim that she attended Vassar College. Cooke confessed that "Jimmy" was a fabrication — she said in later interviews that she had heard of such a boy on the streets, but created him to get her editors off of her back. Cooke resigned and the Post returned the prize.

"Waiting to Explode," Dateline NBC (1992)

In a November 1992 segment on its Dateline news program called "Waiting to Explode", NBC showed a General Motors truck exploding after a low-speed side collision with another car. The explosion, though, was actually generated by hidden remote-controlled incendiary devices. GM sued and eventually won a settlement. NBC News President Michael Gardner, who fiercely defended the piece but later wrote an lengthy correction read on Dateline, was forced to resign.

Bob Wisehart, Sacramento Bee (Mid 1990's)

In the mid 1990's Bob Wisehart, a TV critic for the Sacramento Bee was caught plagiarizing by his editors and resigned.

Stephen Glass, The New Republic (1998)

Stephen Glass was a reporter and associate editor for The New Republic magazine during the late 1990s. On May 8, 1998, Forbes Magazine presented The New Republic with evidence that Glass completely fabricated the story "Hack Heaven", a piece about a 15-year-old computer hacker who breaks into a large company's computer system and is then offered a job by the company. Glass was fired, and an internal investigation determined that 27 of 41 articles he had written for the magazine contained fabricated material. His story was dramatized in the 2003 film, Shattered Glass.

• Salon.com: Hacker heaven, editors' hell

Patricia Smith, The Boston Globe (1998)

Shortly after the Glass affair, award-winning columnist Patricia Smith resigned from the Boston Globe. Smith, who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist that year, admitted to fabricating quotations and people.

Her editors had long suspected her of fabulism, but were slow to address it and mistakenly gave the responsibility of fact-checking her work to an editor who was off on the day of the week that one of Smith's two weekly columns was due.

Race also became a touchy point in Smith's firing. Some critics accused the Globe of firing Smith, who is black, while giving columnist Mike Barnacle a suspension for misdeeds. Columnist Eileen McNamara, on the other hand, wrote that Smith's race made her editors give her the benefit of the doubt. "It was the worst sort of racism that kept us from confronting the fraud we long suspected. If we did ask, and she did tell, we might lose her, and where would we be then? Where would we find an honest black woman columnist who wrote with such power and grace?" McNamara wrote.

Her editors finally could prove that Smith's sources were fake when they could not find people in her columns, like cosmetologist "Janine Byrne," whose jobs are state-licensed. A similar problem was discovered in columns by Sacramento Bee columnist Diana Griego Erwin, who resigned in 2005 amidst charges of fabulism.

• CNN: Boston Globe columnist resigns, accused of fabrications
• American Journalism Review: Secrets and Lies
• Salon.com: Confabulation crisis

Mike Barnicle, The Boston Globe (1998)

Mike Barnicle was a long-time journalist for the Boston Globe who was removed from his position at about the same time as colleague Patricia Smith. Barnicle was accused of violating several rules of reporting, but was removed from the Globe when it was discovered he fabricated quotes from parents of a sick child. Source: Boston Globe, October 5, 1998, Op-Ed Page

• Salon.com: repeat offender
• Boston Globe: Barnicle signs on as Herald columnist
• Boston Herald: We got Mike!: Barnicle to join Herald

Operation Tailwind, CNN NewsStand (1998)

On the June 7 edition of NewsStand, CNN reported that the US used nerve gas in Laos to kill American defectors during the Vietnam War. It retracted this statement on July 2.

• CNN: CNN retracts Tailwind coverage

Michael Gallagher (1998)

Michael Gallagher, an investigative reporter with the Cincinnati Enquirer, co-authored an 18-page expose on Cincinnati-based Chiquita Brands International and its business practices in Central America. Gallagher's stories relied on internal Chiquita voice mails he said were acquired from an inside source, but he had actually been illegally tapping into the company's voice mail system. The paper retracted the stories, ran a front-page apology for three days and paid the company in excess of $10 million in damages, and allegedly agreed not to write further investigative pieces on the mammoth fruit company. No evidence exists that the co-author of the stories, Cameron McWhirter, was aware of what Gallagher was doing. The paper's editor, Lawrence K. Beaupre, was reassigned to Gannett headquarters following accusations that he did not adequately fact-check the stories because of his eagerness to win a Pulitzer Prize.

• American Journalism Review: Bitter Fruit: How the Cincinnati Enquirer's hard-hitting investigation of Chiquita Brands International unraveled
• Chiquita Secrets Revealed. Although the pieces have been discredited, they still can be found.

Jay Forman, Slate (2001)

Jay Forman a feature reporter for online magazine slate wrote an article entitled "Monkeyfishing". The story was about an underground extreme sport that involved using fruit to fish for monkeys on an isolated Florida Key. It was exposed as a hoax by the Wall Street Journal.

• The original "Monkeyfishing" story
• Online hoax museum exhibit

Christopher Newton, Associated Press (2002)

The Associated Press fired Washington, D.C. bureau reporter Christopher Newton in September 2002 accusing him of fabricating at least 40 people and organizations since 2000. Some of the nonexistent agencies quoted in his stories included "Education Alliance," the "Institute for Crime and Punishment in Chicago," "Voice for the Disabled," and "People for Civil Rights."

• Slate.com: Fib Newton, Oct. 29, 2002.

Houston Chronicle Light Rail Controversy (2002)

In late 2002 the Houston Chronicle accidentally posted an internal executive memorandum to its website. The memo contained materials that appeared to outline a plan for intentionally slanted reporting that promoted a pending bond referendum in the Houston, Texas metropolitan region. The memorandum was widely circulated and criticized in other Houston print and electronic media outlets; however the paper quietly removed it from their website. When questioned about the memo, Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen replied that the memo was a "story pitch" and refused to apologize for it. Other than Cohen's remarks the paper made no comment. (see article on Houston Chronicle Light Rail Controversy).

James Forlong, Sky News (2003)

In April of 2003 the Sky News Network carried a report from James Forlong aboard the British nuclear submarine HMS Splendid purportedly showing a live firing of a cruise missile, at sea in the Persian Gulf, during the Iraq war. The report included scenes of the crew members giving instructions related to the launch of the missile and included a sequence in which a crew member pressed a large red button marked with the word "FIRE" and accompanied by a sequence of a missile breaking the surface of the water and launching into the air. The report was a fabrication, with the crew acting along for the benefit of the cameras. The Sky News team did not accompany the submarine when it left port and the scenes were actually recorded whilst the vessel was docked. The shot of the missile breaking the surface has been obtained from stock footage.

The faked report was revealed because a BBC film crew did accompany the vessel to sea. The BBC crew filmed a real cruise missile launch for the BBC TV series Fighting the War. The BBC footage showed how, with modern computerised launching systems, a missile is not launched by pressing a red button but is actually launched with a left mouse click. The BBC passed the information onto The Guardian newspaper who broke the story on July 18, 2003.

James Forlong was suspended from Sky News pending an investigation . In October of 2003, he was found dead by his wife after committing suicide by hanging. In December, Sky News were fined £50,000 by the Independent Television Commission for breaching accuracy regulations.

• Sky fined £50,000 over war report (BBC News - December 16, 2003)

CNN coverage of Iraq (2003)

Eason Jordan, news chief for CNN, admitted in April 2003 that the network had been aware of dictator Saddam Hussein's human rights abuses since 1990. But the network did not cover said atrocities so it could maintain access to Hussein and keep CNN's bureau in Baghdad open. Jordan also defended the decision by saying that reporting on Hussein's crimes would have jeopardized CNN journalists and Iraqis working for them.

Jordan's revelation called journalistic ethics into question on the grounds of a news network intentionally soft-balling coverage of Hussein's regime, thus by proxy acting as a spokesman. Also, critics pointed out that the information on Hussein's crimes against humanity held back by CNN was a critical part of the national debate over going to war to oust Hussein from power.

Jordan resigned from the network two years later over alleged remarks that U.S. troops intentionally target journalists (see entry below).

• CNN: CNN executive: Iraq targeted network's journalists, April 11, 2003
• Jordan's article in the April 11, 2003 edition of The New York Times, reprinted at The Freedom of Information Center at the University of Missouri

Jayson Blair, The New York Times (2003)

In early May 2003, New York Times reporter Jayson Blair resigned after being confronted with evidence of fabricating quotes and details in at least 36 articles. The incident, and the revelations about management that followed, shook the journalism community given that many journalists regard the Times as the nation's most prestigious newspaper.

Scrutiny quickly fell after Blair's resignation on executive editor Howell Raines, and to a lesser extent managing editor Gerald Boyd, as testimony from Times watchers and employees disgruntled with Raines' autocratic management style showed the duo had fast-tracked Blair for promotion, despite warnings from other employees about Blair's erratic behavior and high error rate. One employee, metro editor Jonathan Landman, famously wrote in an e-mail to Raines that the paper "...need to stop Jayson from writing for the Times. Right now."

Critics accused Raines of being obsessed with diversity and giving Blair, who is black, too many chances. Raines admitted as much during a testy closed-door meeting among employees. Critics also blasted Raines' top-down management system, accusing him of surrounding himself with "yes-men" who would not challenge him -- Bernard Goldberg, in his best-selling book "Arrogance," said that by all accounts, Raines "...made Napoleon Bonaparte look like Richard Simmons."

On June 5, 2003, Raines and Boyd resigned as a result of this scandal.

• The New York Times, "Correcting the Record: Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception," the Times story investigating Blair's actions, May 11, 2003 (subscription required)

"Gropegate", The Los Angeles Times (2003)

The Los Angeles Times drew fire for a last-minute story before the 2003 California recall election alleging that gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger groped scores of women during his movie career. While the story itself was not discredited, the newspaper's motives and timing were brought into question.

Critics cited the article as a prima facie case of bias for several reasons, the first of which being that the newspaper ran the story days before the recall when it apparently had the story weeks beforehand. Columnist Jill Stewart quoted angry Times employees who said that former editor John Carroll assembled two teams of reporters to "get Arnold," while doing nothing to investigate Democratic challenger Cruz Bustamante, who had ties to the radical Latino group MEChA. Stewart further pointed out that the Times had long known about, but never wrote about, allegations that former Gov. Gray Davis had verbally and physically abused women in his office (Stewart had written about those allegations while working for the now-defunct New Times Los Angeles).

Other critics questioned the veracity of the story, which was laden with anonymous sources (four of the six alleged vicims were not named), while pointing out that the Times decided not to run the Gray Davis story because it would rely on the same.

Carroll later admitted that the Times lost more than 10,000 subscribers because of the article.

• A copy of the Oct. 2, 2003 article, "Women Say Schwarzenegger Groped, Humiliated Them" (it cannot be found on the Times' Web site).
• Jill Stewart, "LA Times Covers Up Davis Violence on Female Staff," jillstewart.net
• "How the Los Angeles Times Really Decided to Publish its Accounts of Women Who Said They Were Groped," jillstewart.net

Jack Kelley, USA Today (2004)

In early 2004, an anonymous letter to editors of USA Today caused an internal investigation of one of its star reporters, Jack Kelley. Kelley resigned when a search of his computer found letters to friends asking them to pretend to be sources sought by the paper to verify his stories.

An internal investigation later found that Kelley had been fabricating stories or parts of stories since at least 1991, and that outside sources had been warning USA Today reporters about Kelley's accuracy.

Furthermore, similar to the findings of the Siegal Commission convened by The New York Times in the wake of Jayson Blair, investigators found a "climate of fear" in the news section that discouraged co-workers, many of whom were suspicious of Kelley's work, to come forward. The investigation, also similar to the Times' findings, concluded that editorial favoritism played a significant role, given Kelley's star status. Previous attempts at looking into discrepencies failed, according to the investigation, because editors set out with the goal of proving that Kelley did nothing wrong.

And like the Times, USA Today's top two editors resigned as a result.

• The problems of Jack Kelley and USA TODAY (USA Today - 4/22/2004)

Stephen Dunphy, Seattle Times (2004)

Stephen Dunphy was a business columnist for the Seattle Times with over 35 years of experience in the journalism world. He was caught plagiarizing by his editors in a few of his previous stories and was subsequently fired.

The Boston Globe's Fake "GI Rape" Photographs(2004)

In May of 2004, the Boston Globe published photographs it alleged were of United States soldiers abusing and raping women in Iraq. Shortly thereafter, these photographs were stated to be commercially-produced pornography that were originally published on a web site named "Sex in War". At the time, other news sources claimed to have already exposed the photographs as fake at least a week before the Boston newspaper published them.

The ABC News election memo (2004)

A leaked memo dated October 8 from ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin to news staff told them to hold President George W. Bush to a higher level of scrutiny than Democratic challenger John Kerry. The memo reads in part, "... the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done.

Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win."

• The Drudge Report: ABCNews Political Director Memo Sparks Controversy: Both Sides not "Equally Accountable"
• The Washington Times: ABC's Memo Problem

Dan Rather, Mary Mapes and "Memogate" (2004)

During the 2004 US presidential campaign, Dan Rather was responsible for using possibly forged documents during a Sept. 8, 2004 60 Minutes Wednesday report on George W. Bush's Vietnam era service record. Unlike most other scandals listed on this page, there is no evidence that Rather, who often had been accused by conservatives of liberal bias, intended to mislead the public – an ensuing independent investigation found that Rather had little, if anything, to do with the report's production.

Producer Mary Mapes bore the brunt of the criticism. She was accused of liberal bias for working on the story for five years and putting Bill Burkett, the source of the memos, in contact with Democratic challenger John Kerry's campaign. The panel investigation into what was called "Memogate" and "Rathergate" accused Mapes of gross negligence for "crashing" the story six days after she received the memos and doing "virtually nothing" to establish a chain of custody.

Both liberals and conservatives alike expressed dissatisfaction with the fallout of Memogate. Many liberal blogs suspect that Karl Rove planted the forged documents to shift scrutiny away from Bush's service record and onto the media - this accusation also was leveled by U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY). Conservative bloggers, who have long accused the media, and especially Rather, of liberal bias, were incredulous that the investigation by former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and former Associated Press head Lou Boccardi could not find evidence that "political bias" was behind the flawed piece.

Almost as damaging to CBS as the news report was the network and Rather's steadfast support of it for almost two weeks despite the raging controversy.

After investigation it is still unknown whether the documents were known or believed to be forged prior to 60 Minutes running the segment. The aftermath of the independent investigation's report released on January 10, 2005 led to the firing of Mapes, who later released a book later arguing that the memos were real and advancing the Rove conspiracy theory, but without any concrete proof. Three others, Josh Howard, executive producer of 60 Minutes Wednesday; his top deputy Mary Murphy; and senior vice president Betsy West, were asked to resign.

Rather stepped down as anchor of the "CBS Evening News" on March 9, 2005, with about two years left on his contract. Although denied by Rather and CBS, many critics believe that his early retirement was a direct result of the scandal.

Fake American hostage, Associated Press (2005)

The Associated Press moved a story on February 1 with a picture of what appeared to be an American soldier held hostage in Iraq. The story stated that the captors would kill the soldier in 72 hours unless Iraqi prisoners were freed.

Within hours after the story was published, bloggers who noticed that the photo looked odd figured out that the "hostage" was in fact a G.I. Joe Air Force special operations doll named "Cody."

The hoax, which ran on the heels of Memogate at CBS, further sullied the media's reputation for fact-checking. United States Central Command had not reported any soldiers missing at the time. Furthermore, some bloggers noted that the "hostage" was allowed to keep his equipment and grenades, which is not something that militants experienced enough to capture a U.S. soldier would do.

• Wizbang blog: Terrorists claim to hold U.S. Soldier
• A photo of the doll and his equipment which matches the AP photo.

Eason Jordan, CNN (2005)

CNN news chief Eason Jordan resigned in February 2005 following a controversy over comments he allegedly made January 27 at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, accusing U.S. troops of targeting journalists.

His comments were reported by blogger Rony Abovitz, who attended the forum, as well as U.S. Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, who pushed Jordan on stage for proof.

A videotape of the private conference was never released, and CNN never asked for one. However, Jordan had made similar accusations in 2004 at a News XChange conference in Portugal.

Jordan's resignation further established bloggers, whose pressure helped force New York Times editor Howell Raines to resign and CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather to step down, as a powerful check on mainstream journalism. Unlike the Jayson Blair and Memogate scandals, which the mainstream press relentlessly covered, the Jordan affair was widely ignored by the mainstream media until Jordan's resignation forced them to report it.

• Washington Post, CNN's Jordan resigns over Iraq remarks, by media writer Howard Kurtz
• Do U.S. Troops Target Journalists in Iraq?, the post at the WEF blog that started the controversy

Eric Slater, Los Angeles Times (2005)

The Los Angeles Times fired veteran reporter Eric Slater in April 2005 after he wrote an article on hazing at Chico State University that was so inaccurate and relied so heavily on unnamed sources that questions arose about whether Slater fabricated the piece or actually visited Chico at all. Slater also quoted the university president by lifting a quote from a local paper without attribution. University staff received an apology from the Times, which the president felt was inadequate.

Slater's mistakes further humiliated the Times because the error-laden story ran two days after former media critic David Shaw wrote in his column that Internet bloggers do not deserve protection under journalistic "shield laws" because their work has no editorial oversight.

• L.A. Observed: Slater 'dismissed from staff'*, April 18, 2005

Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press (2005)

Detroit Free Press ("Freep") star columnist Mitch Albom wrote a column April 3 about the April 2 NCAA Final Four game against Michigan State University and the University of North Carolina stating that Michigan basketball alumni Mateen Cleaves and Jason Richardson were watching in the stands. They were not – they apparently told Albom earlier that they would be attending, but they had a change of plans.

The Freep disciplined Albom and four other employees, arguing that Albom, also a best-selling author and radio personality, was too busy and took an unethical shortcut. Critics accused the Freep of having a lower set of standards for its "star" writer, and argued that Albom's description of what Cleaves and Richardson were wearing was clearly fabrication, a first-time firing offense for many journalism operations.

The paper did not reveal how the five employees were disciplined – Albom's column did not appear for several weeks as the Freep investigated the transgression.

• Investors Business Daily: The Albom Story Has No Heroes and No Martyrs
• The Poynter Institute: Portrait of the Columnist as a Pampered Athlete

Barry Schweid, Associated Press (2005)

On April 11, 2005, the Associated Press reported that John Bolton, nominee for ambassador of the United States to the United Nations had said "that the world body had 'gone off track' at times but that he was committed to its mission". This article was filed more than an hour before the beginning of the hearing session at which Mr. Bolton allegedly made these remarks.

Barbara Stewart, The Boston Globe (2005)

In the spring of 2005, the Boston Globe ran a story describing the events of a seal hunt near Halifax, Nova Scotia that took place on April 12, 2005. The article described the specific number of boats involved in the hunt and graphically described the killing of seals and the protests that accompanied it. The reality is that weather had delayed the hunt, which had not even begun by April 13, the day the story had been filed, and was rescheduled to start, at the earliest, on April 15, three days after Ms. Stewart (who had worked for the New York Times for a decade previous) "described" the events of said hunt. As there was no hunt to describe, the story was obviously fabricated. As of yet, Ms. Stewart has not commented on filing this story describing events that never occurred.

Diana Griego Erwin, Sacramento Bee (2005)

Sacramento Bee columnist Diana Griego Erwin resigned in May 2005 shortly after her editors confronted her about several people in her columns whose existence could not be verified. An internal investigation concluded a month later could not find 30 people in 27 of her 171 columns since January 2004, and a random search of columns dating back to 1995 found 10 more phantom sources. Reporters developed a test for Erwin's columns, and certified it by checking names in 36 random pieces by three other columnists, all of which checked out.

Erwin's case shared several similarities to that of Boston Globe columnist Patricia Smith, who was fired in 1998 for fabricating sources. The Bee's final report said that many of Erwin's columns "fit a template: essays, often with a surprising O. Henry twist, about a singular person who faces a challenge and surmounts it." Smith's columns often followed a similar template. Also, like the Globe's investigation into Smith, Bee reporters could not track down people in Erwin's stories whose vocations are state licensed, such as teachers and barbers.

Other Bee writers fired for ethics violations included television critic Bob Wisehart for plagiarism, and sports writer Jim Van Vliet for writing up a game he watched on television as if he had attended.

• Sacramento Bee: Bee Publishes Results of Griego Erwin Probe

Chris Cecil, Cartersville Daily News (2005)

Chris Cecil, a 28-year-old associate managing editor at the Cartersville (Ga.) Daily Tribune News, was fired in June 2005 after his superiors at the 8,000-circulation daily learned that he had plagiarized at least eight columns from syndicated Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts since March of that year. A reader of the Cartersville paper tipped off Pitts, who wrote a scathing column critical of Cecil, especially because he plagiarized much of Pitts' column in which Pitts dealt with his mother's losing battle with cancer. Of one Cecil column, almost plagiarized word-for-word, Pitts wrote, "You essentially took my name off and slapped yours on."

• San Francisco Chronicle: Ga. Paper Columnist Fired for Plagiarizing
• Leonard Pitts' column on Cecil's plagiarism

The Daily Egyptian's fake orphan (2005)

For two years The Daily Egyptian, the newspaper of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, had run articles by a young girl named Kodee Kennings, whose father, Sgt. Dan Kennings, was serving in the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq. When Dan Kennings was reported killed in action, the Chicago Tribune discovered that the Egyptian had fallen for an elaborate hoax by a student who convinced actors playing the family were filming a documentary. Jaimie Reynolds, the woman who perpetrated the hoax, claims that former editor Michael Brenner was involved, which he denies.

• Chicago Tribune: HOAX!, published Aug. 26, 2005]

Bush administration journalism scandals (2005)

• Bush administration payment of columnists - The Bush White House payment of public funds to right-wing media commentators by several U.S. executive departments under Cabinet officials to promote various policies of U.S. President George W. Bush's administration. Thousands of dollars were paid to at least three commentators to promote Bush administration policies. This includes Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher, Michael McManus.
• Jeff Gannon aka James Dale Guckert, a so-called "patsy" for the Bush Administration.

Jim Van Vliet, Sacramento Bee (2005)

Jim Van Vliet a sports writer for the Sacramento Bee was fired when his editors learned that he had written about a Giants game after watching it on TV while quoting players as if he'd actually personally interviewed them in the locker room afterwards; the fabricated quotes lost him his job.

Tim Ryan, Honolulu Star-Bulletin (2006)

Tim Ryan was a 21-year veteran writer with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Entertainment columnist Tim Ryan was fired on January 14, 2006, for plagiarizing a number of stories during his time at the Star-Bulletin. In a statement on the paper's official website, editor Frank Bridgewater said, "The stories contained phrases or sentences that appeared elsewhere before being included, un-attributed, in stories that ran in the Star-Bulletin. The stories did not include inaccurate information or any fabrications." (full statement) Similarities between Ryan's December 22 review of the History Channel documentary "Secrets of the Black Box: Aloha Flight 243" were first noted on the Misplaced Pages Signpost . Although Bridgewater did not reference Misplaced Pages in his official statement, the article itself was corrected by the Star-Bulletin on December 24. The correction read: "A portion of a review of the television show "Secrets of the Black Box: Aloha Flight 243" was taken verbatim from the Web site reference.com. The material was originally published in the online encyclopedia wikipedia.com . The article, on Page D6 Thursday, failed to attribute the information to either source." A Misplaced Pages editor brought a complaint to the paper, eventually leading to Ryan's dismissal.

Hassan Fattah, New York Times Abu Ghraib photos (2006)

The New York Times in March 2006 ran a front-page interview by reporter Hassan M. Fattah with Ali Shalal Qaissi, who claimed he was the man hooded and hooked up to wires in the now-infamous Abu Ghraib prison picture. Salon quickly questioned the man's claim, as did the U.S. military, and the Times soon discovered that the man was not really the person in the picture. Furthermore, the Times had run the actual man's name in its own pages several years earlier.

The Times admitted in the correction that it did not do enough to establish the man's identity. Ironically, days later, the Times retracted the profile of a Hurricane Katrina refugee living in a Bronx hotel and criticizing the government's handling of the crisis because she, too, was a fraud. She was arrested on fraud charges for allegedly attempting to get federal relief.

• The original article
• Salon.com: "Identifying a torture icon"
• The New York Times runs a correction (subscription required)

Michael Hiltzik, The Los Angeles Times (2006)

Michael Hiltzik, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the Los Angeles Times, lost his "Golden State" column and his blog in April, a week after conservative blogger Patrick Frey at Patterico's Pontifications discovered that Hiltzik had been posting comments at his blog and others under at least two alternate identities, an Internet practice called "sock puppeting.". Hiltzik passed off his alter egos, "Mikekoshi" and "nofanofcablecos", as separate people who either praised Hiltzik and the Times or attacked his foes, which were typically conservative ideas or people, and included Patterico (a deputy district attorney), Hugh Hewitt, Cathy Seipp and others.

Hiltzik was suspended without pay and reassigned. Several years before winning the Pulitzer, Hiltzik was reassigned from the paper's Moscow bureau after he hacked into and read co-workers' e-mail.

• Patterico's Pontifications: "Three in one: Michael Hiltzik, Mikekoshi and Nofanofcablecos" (April 20, 2006)
• The text of the Los Angeles Times staff memo announcing Hiltzik's punishment.

See also

• Propaganda model
• Scandal

External links

• Washington Post: N.Y. Times Uncovers Dozens Of Faked Stories by Reporter
• New York Times: Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception
• New York Times: Executive Editor of The Times and Top Deputy Step Down

• Criticism of journalism
• Deception
• Ethics
• Pop culture news media
• Scandals