DailyDirt: Fact-Checking Is Hard...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Journalism is a tough business, and it's not getting any easier. Reporters need to be more skeptical than ever (especially around April Fool's day) and keep an eye out for pranks or stories that sound too good to be true (or are obvious publicity stunts). Sometimes there's a fine line between what's newsworthy and what's simply entertaining, but here are a few stories that might have needed a more critical editor.

• Husband and wife team Gary di Silvestri and Angelica Morrone paid their way into the Sochi Olympics. The couple deposited some funds into a Dominica bank to get legitimate citizenship, and then they formed a ski team to represent the Caribbean island. The press covered their biographies just like any other Olympians (but maybe that shouldn't have happened). [url]
• Local news stations are always looking out for heart-warming human interest stories, but perhaps they should screen people who claim to be yo-yo masters a bit more rigorously. Andy Kaufman would be amused by this hoax. [url]
• Just about every morning news show does some kind of cooking segment, especially around the holidays when people are looking for recipe ideas for family gatherings. Unfortunately, the folks as WSAW-TV have pulled this video from Youtube, but you might still be able to find it to try the awful recipes. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: angelica morrone, chef, gary di silvestri, hoax, prank, publicity stunt, sochi olympics, yo-yo master