Monday, September 06, 2010

You read it on the internet? It must be true then…

Mike Wise, a sports writer for the Washington Post, set out to test a theory last week. He used Twitter to say that a quarterback called Ben Roethlisberger was to be suspended for five games. It sounded as if it might be true – but it wasn’t.

When the rumour began to circulate and people began to ask where Wise had found out about the story, he said a “casino employee in Lake Tahoe” had told him.

Later, when Wise had been suspended by the paper for a month over the incident, he said he had pulled the stunt to prove that “anybody will print anything”. Although the story wasn’t splashed in the papers, it had managed to circulate among just as many people. He had proved his point. More...

Don't miss:

  1. Keep children away from television, warns top psychologist...
  2. Indian police barred from using "truth" serum...
  3. How to report the news...
  4. Obama's gulf swim was a fake?
  5. Sarkozy and Carla Bruni both having affairs???
  6. The Mitterrand dynasty, scandals and hypocrisy...

No comments:

Post a Comment