Independent Journalist Fakes Interviews, Quotes

The Stiletto Blog ^ | September 17, 2007 | The Stiletto

[theothercheek]

In the ABC News blog, "The Blotter," Brian Ross reports that the list of luminaries who say that they were the subjects of fake interviews written by former ABC News consultant Alexis Debat, 35, and published in Politique Internationale is growing exponentially.In addition to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) who said an article published in the June issue French foreign affairs journal was a fabrication, the list of faked interviews now includes:

Former President Bill Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan …

Stephane Dujarric, the deputy communications director for [Annan], said he called the fabricated interview to the attention of the editor of the magazine, Patrick Wajsman, in June 2005.

"I told him that if he went ahead with it, we would denounce the interview as a fake," the U.N. official said. "This was not some obscure guy. This was the sitting secretary-general of the U.N., and the magazine was told it was a fake," he said.

Despite that, Debat continued for the next two years to be cited as the author of interviews with a range of prominent U.S. public officials in Politique Internationale. …

Asked why he continued to use Debat after the warning from the U.N., Wajsman said, "Everybody can be trusted once. He seemed to be well-connected in Washington, working for ABC and the Nixon center."

Regular readers of The Stiletto Blog know that Debat is not the only freelance journalist recently caught in such fakery. How very timely, then, that Media Bistro is offering a three-hour seminar, "Ethics for Journalists" tomorrow night that promises to prepare journalists to:

† Grasp the basic tools of moral reasoning

† Identify and address conflicts of interest

† Understand a journalist's legal and ethical obligations to sources

† Deal with government and corporate control of news media

† Report on sensitive religious and moral subjects without offending or pandering

† Create ethically sound relationships with editors, colleagues, and competitors

Since James Taranto has habitually been foregoing the necessary disclosures to inform readers of the conflict of interest that occurs every time he publishes or otherwise promotes an article written by his girlfriend, Heather Robinson, in OpionionJournal.com he definitely ought to take this class. Robinson, whose clip book is thinner than an anorexic fashion model - but who has already been accused of fabricating quotes - should join him so she can get a clue on the whole shebang. The seminar costs only $65 and since neither Taranto nor Robinson attended journalism school (Taranto couldn’t quite manage to graduate college, either), it’s a bargain at twice the price for them both.

Editorial Note: The Stiletto’s use of the term "independent journalist" in the headline of this post is meant to be sarcastic. An uncredentialed journalist – that is, a wannabe who is not employed by a print or broadcast media company and scrounges for occasional assignments from editors who work at these companies in the hopes of eventually being hired as a staffer – used to be called a "freelancer." However, we are living in resume inflating times, and Robinson is among the wannabes who have taken to referring to themselves as "independent journalists." Considering that she is neither "independent" – her boyfriend leverages his position and personal contacts to get her choice assignments in high-profile publications, including his own – nor a "journalist" in the commonly understood sense of the term, this is a honking case of chutzpah.

Note: The Stiletto writes about politics and other stuff at The Stiletto Blog.

[MNJohnnie]

So what? Most “ Professional Journalists” routinely fake sources. Just two of the latest examples are the New York Time reports in July that “secret sources” told them Bush was going wobbly on Iraq and was going to close Gitmo. Both front page above the fold “news stories” from the “paper of record” were complete lies.

[theothercheek]

Doesn’t make it right.