NOT THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER: If It’s Too Good To Be True The MSM Will Run With It
The media couldn’t bestir themselves to vet Barack Obama, but fell all over themselves to rush any salacious tidbit about Sarah Palin into print or on the airwaves without verification – which is how they ended up falling for one of the biggest hoaxes pulled on journalists since The Hitler Diaries. The New York Times reports:
Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.
Who would say such a thing? On Monday the answer popped up on a blog and popped out of the mouth of David Shuster, an MSNBC anchor. “Turns out it was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,” Mr. Shuster said.
Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow - the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy - is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.
And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months. MSNBC, which quickly corrected the mistake, has plenty of company in being taken in by an Eisenstadt hoax, including The New Republic and The Los Angeles Times. …
[A] pair of obscure filmmakers say they created Martin Eisenstadt to help them pitch a TV show based on the character. …
They say the blame lies not with them but with shoddiness in the traditional news media and especially the blogosphere.
“With the 24-hour news cycle they rush into anything they can find,” said [Dan] Mirvish, 40.
[Eitan] Gorlin, 39, argued that Eisenstadt was no more of a joke than half the bloggers or political commentators on the Internet or television. …
Mr. Gorlin said they chose the name because “all the neocons in the Bush administration had Jewish last names and Christian first names.”
Perhaps the media won’t feel so smug anymore over Palin being punked (audio) by French-Canadian DJ Marc Antoine Audette of CKOI (Montréal) pretending to be French president Nicholas Sarkozy. Nah. In reality, even though the Africa thing was exposed as a lie the MSM will continue to repeat it until it becomes a Big Lie. That’s how they roll.
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