Sports editor Chuck
Scott is ready. He knows if Santa were to leave a stocking for the
Sports department on Christmas morning, it probably would include a
very large lump of coal. And it would be well-deserved.
The reason for the lump? A story Thursday on Page 2 in Gallery, a
daily feature compiled from news services, carried a bogus story. It
came from www.hoosiergazette.com, but instead of citing the
fledgling Web site or the writer, the credit below the headline said
it came from "Union-Tribune News Services." It did not.
The bogus story was about a fictional Jason Smith, a 5-foot-6,
128-pound honor student from Yorktown High School in "Muncey," (not
Muncie) Ind., being signed by Purdue to play basketball. As the
story goes, there was a mix-up. Instead of giving a scholarship to
the school's other fictional Jason Smith, "a 6-6, 215-pound point
guard who averaged 26 points and 11 assists per game last season,"
the scholarship went to the scholar who said he wasn't about to give
it back.
The Union-Tribune wasn't the first to be fooled by this Web site
even though hoodwinking is not what the operators intended. The
story was reported on at least two nationally syndicated radio
sports shows, but as John Andrews, one of the Web site principals,
said, The San Diego Union-Tribune appears to be the first newspaper
to print it. This time, it isn't an honor to be first.
The story also appeared on SignOnSanDiego.com, the Union-Tribune
Web site, but was pulled when operators of the Hoosier site let
editors know it was a bogus story.
The Union-Tribune and any other responsible sports journalists
should have known the silly story wasn't true. The Web site carries
this disclaimer: "Indiana's first source for inaccurate news and
commentary since 2003." However, no one who handled the story saw
that.
The Hoosier Gazette is the work of Andrews and Josh Whicker, the
author of the Purdue story, who wrote it under the pseudonym of Ross
Leslie. Andrews, 27, is a warehouse shipping clerk who said he has a
master's degree in history. "We didn't do it to try to trick
anyone," Andrews said of the Purdue story.
Whicker, 29, who teaches social studies and is an assistant
football coach in Floyd Knobs, Ind., writes about 75 percent of the
material on the Web site that has been operating for about five
weeks and is intended to poke fun at the state of Indiana. He said
he uses 10 or 12 pseudonyms to make it look as if the Web site has a
full staff.
How did the bogus story make it into the Union-Tribune? As Sports
editor Scott explained, college basketball writer Ed Graney was
e-mailed a link to what he thought was a recruiting Web site and
mentioned that it might make a Gallery item. When Sports news editor
Peter Clark couldn't find the story among news service offerings,
Graney went back to the link and copied the text (but not the
disclaimer, which he again did not see), thereby placing the story
into the Union-Tribune computer system.
The story came to the attention of copy editor Steve Oakey, whose
job it was to put together Gallery items for Thursday's newspaper.
He included the Purdue story and sent it to Clark who says he should
have checked it out.
"It happened on my watch," said Clark in acknowledging "full
responsibility. I should have been more skeptical about the story. I
should have questioned it."
So should those who read the story before it got to Clark.
There's plenty of blame to go around. As Sports editor Scott put it,
"it was a team effort."
"Obviously," Scott said, "there were at least two significant
breakdowns here. First, we printed information with little thought
to the source. Ed (Graney) saw it and assumed it was from a
legitimate wire service such as The Associated Press; our desk folks
assumed Ed got the info from a wire service, so they never checked
to see where it came from. There's no excuse for not verifying a
story unless we're certain it came from a credible news
organization."
Scott also criticized running the story verbatim without
acknowledging the source. It is not newspaper practice to run
stories from Web sites without putting them into context and citing
the source. Had staffers been paying proper attention, the story
would not have made it into the newspaper for that reason alone.
While there is nothing ethically wrong with running articles from
news services verbatim, editors need to make certain that the source
is indeed credible, Scott said. He also said the source for each
Gallery item should be cited. I agree. Crediting Union-Tribune news
services without naming them is so vague it makes me uncomfortable.
Although the Sports department is embarrassed, Andrews and
Whicker seem amused and gratified with the response generated by
information about the Union-Tribune faux pas on other Web sites.
Whicker said he's "happy for the publicity." A few days ago, there
were perhaps a couple dozen visitors to the Web site whose existence
has been promoted by word of mouth. Now, Whicker said,
www.hoosiergazette is "getting e-mails nationwide."
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Gina Lubrano's column commenting on the media appears Mondays. It
is the policy of The San Diego Union-Tribune to correct all errors.
To discuss accuracy or fairness in the news, please write to Gina
Lubrano, readers representative, Box 120191, San Diego, CA
92112-0191, or telephone (619) 293-1525. Send e-mail to: readers.rep@uniontrib.com.
