[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I did read the article. He did not investigate until someone else did the leg work for him.

I knew snopes was dubious over a decade ago because I fact checked their fact checking. I do not depend on just one source for anything. I am not a reporter just a goof-ball with a keyboard. Yet I knew things that this "academic" did not because he assumed, he never questioned until the wheels started coming off the wagon.

He gets a small pat for actually looking in the hole after someone else dug it. He gets a kick for not doing his job for years.

[wiggen]

And until the Daily Mail article it appears nobody else did either. He lays out how he came upon the story and all the steps he took to confirm it. I’m not sure what else he could have done. Did you expect him to write this 5 years ago? Why him? Why not another reporter?
You appear to be singling out this one reporter for having done a job, following up on the DM article, that nobody else did.