Who's watching the liars?

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      COMMENTARY

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By John Olesky (BJ 1969-96)

Jonah Lehrer fabricated Bob Dylan quotes in his book about creativity.

Liane Membis made up sources in the Wall Street Journal.

Paresh Jha phonied material in at least 25 articles in the New Canaan News in Connecticut, including one that won first place in the state's writing awards. 

A photojournalist made up elements of a weekly photo essay for the Sun-Times Media’s suburban newspapers.

In these days of bare-bones staffs, isn’t anyone watching the store?

In the 1960s there was a Cincinnati sportswriter who copied material from his competitors. Irritated by this, another Cincy sportswriter typed “(Player’s name) will be out indefinitely with a broken ankle” as the story-stealer looked over his shoulder. The lazy sportswriter wrote that in a story for his newspaper. Later, he had to explain why he wrote something that never happened.

Cincinnati Reds Manager Birdie Tebbetts, asked for his opinion on a specific situation, quipped: “I don’t know what I said. (The lazy sportswriter) hasn’t made up my quote yet.”

Making up quotes and sources, or even relying on untrustworthy sources, used to be taboo.

Have newspapers – scrambling to survive, let alone thrive -- forgotten to watch the store and keep their reporters honest, even though it takes time, money and eternal vigilance?

In this age of the Internet when a kid in his grandmother’s basement can make up stuff that gets a million hits and is viewed as creditable by too many readers, have newspapers forgotten that trust and accuracy are cornerstones of responsible journalism?  

For the Poynter.org story about writers making up “facts” and “sources,” click on http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/regret-the-error/183384/how-to-detect-when-a-young-writers-sloppy-habits-could-signal-far-worse/