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Cape Cod Times says reporter fabricated people for stories

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Writer33, Dec 5, 2012.

  1. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    Merry Christmas to you, too, friend. ;)
     
  2. Bamadog

    Bamadog Well-Known Member

    I understand that, having to string together college baseball roundups and sometimes basketball on deadline with minutes to spare. I understand you can't read everything from the premise that the quotes here are b.s. and are as made up as fairy dust or dilithium crystals.

    But none of these things happen in a vacuum. For those sociopaths who invent quotes and simply lie, there are always warning signs or complaints or something that demands some sort of investigation. There is always something that plants a seed of doubt about that person's integrity. Deadline doesn't lend itself to such an investigation.

    The only solution is hire people with the highest integrity, even if that means they aren't the most splendid writers on the planet. A lack of integrity is the end of this business.
     
  3. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    The craziest aspect of it is those quotes are never necessary. They're columnists stating their opinion. But for some reason they need to make someone up who agrees with them.
     
  4. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    I used a random fan quote in a column of mine from a game at Wrigley Field. It was real, the fan said it, I heard it and I used it. No idea who the guy was or anything about him. But, then again, I take pride in my work and don't make up quotes. To be honest, I never really even thought about actually making up shit until reading this thread and I've been in this business for over 20 years. Some people just do their job honestly. My point being, though, the random fan quote can be a real quote from a real person. Been there. Done that.
     
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