A sucker is born every minute, and many of them are growing up at CNBC and Reuters.
In a dramatic shift, the Chamber of Commerce announced Monday that it is throwing its support behind climate change legislation making its way through the U.S. Senate.
Only it didn’t. An email press release announcing the change is a hoax, say Chamber officials.
Several media organizations fell for it.
How could this happen with all their editors and filters…?
A CNBC anchor interrupted herself mid-sentence Monday morning to announce that the network had “breaking news,” then cut away to reporter Hampton Pearson, who read from the fake press release.
Pearson quickly followed up with a second report saying the “so-called bulletin” was an “absolute hoax.” Smelling a rat, CNBC’s Larry Kudlow demanded to know whether the White House had been involved.
In a story posted Monday morning, Reuters declared: “The Chamber of Commerce said on Monday it will no longer opposes climate change legislation, but wants the bill to include a carbon tax.”
Reuters updated the story to acknowledge the hoax, but it was too late: The Washington Post and the New York Times had already posted the fake story on their Web sites.
Makes you wonder about the credibility of other stories that haven’t been verified but passed off as news. After the media’s Rushgate of last week and now this, it’s clear this present crop of journalists are barely competent enough to work at a high school newspaper.
Trishmac:
If you’re referring to “Worldwide Pants” then that would explain everything… everything. I wonder if Little Billy Clinton is a shareholder.
Uh… So much comedy. So little time. The “elites” truly do constitute the high-end of jesters. We are fortunate to be represented by so many proficient clowns.
The way they fall all over this white house and these democrats, there are no filters in the media-unless pants count.
So disappointing, in fact, that I missed a glimmer of hope.
Smelling a rat, CNBC’s Larry Kudlow demanded to know whether the White House had been involved.
The press is one of many competing interests. It’s unfortunate that they would defer to partisan agendas and betray the society and people they serve. Not surprising, just disappointing.
Shit. Where you been?
Journalism was alrady long dead when Cronkite announced that we were losing the Vietnam War, despite all data to the contrary.
journalism died in 2008 and now, mostly, it’s an annoying zombie..
also, “..barely competent enough to work at a high school newspaper.” that would be an insult to fledgling high school journalists, I would think, right?