NEW YORK Associated Press editors were forced to retract an earlier report that a meteorite might have hit near Olympia, Wash., this morning after discovering that a source, one Bradley Hammermaster, claiming to be an astronomy professor, had perpetrated a hoax.
"An early report that a meteor might have hit turned out to be false," said AP spokesman Jack Stokes. "It looks like a version (of the story) was killed because it talked about a meteorite hitting." He said AP was reviewing how the error occurred.
The original story, which AP released at 7:03 a.m. EST, stated that someone identified as Bradley Hammermaster, and purported to be a University of Washington astronomy instructor, had told KIRO Radio in Seattle that a piece of meteor "about the size of a small car" had hit just before 3 a.m. PST.
The radio station also quoted the man as saying "a team was being assembled to head for the area where the object was believed to have hit near the tiny southwestern Washington community of Chehalis."
This version was picked up by dozens of news sites, most of which later deleted the Hammermaster references.
The bogus report followed genuine reports of bright lights being seen along a 60-mile stretch of the Puget Sound, which National Weather Service and U.S. Coast Guard officials were investigating as either a streaking meteor or other outer space activity, AP reported.
An AP advisory sent out at about 7:23 a.m. EST stated, "The AP story Meteorite-Washington ... has been eliminated. The identity of the source of the story cannot be confirmed."
Later versions of the AP story revealed the hoax.
"An early report that a meteor might have hit near Chehalis, about 90 miles south of the city, turned out to be false, a University of Washington scientist who specializes in meteorites said," AP reported. "A man who identified himself as University of Washington astronomy professor Bradley Hammermaster told KIRO Radio a team was being assembled to head for an area where the meteor was believed to have hit, but that call appeared to be a hoax, Smith said."
The story added, "No one by the name of Hammermaster is known to the astronomy department, and the description given by the caller to the station of the object -- an automobile-sized piece of a small car from a piece of the larger Trilene meteor -- was clearly bogus."
Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is senior editor for E&P.
NEW YORK Associated Press editors were forced to retract an earlier report that a meteorite might have hit near Olympia, Wash., this morning after discovering that a source, one Bradley Hammermaster, claiming to be an astronomy professor, had perpetrated a hoax.Did the AP ever get around to printing the story about Jean Keri 'flipping off' the Veteran at the VietNam Memorial ??? I don't think they did.
But yet, they would publish 'The Sky is Falling' story .....