DUBLIN, Ireland -- When Dublin university student Shane Fitzgerald posted a poetic but phony quote on Wikipedia, he said he was testing how our globalized, increasingly Internet-dependent media was upholding accuracy and accountability in an age of instant news. His report card?
Wikipedia passed. Journalism flunked.
The sociology major's made-up quote — which he added to the Wikipedia page of "Maurice Jarre" hours after the French composer's death March 28 — flew straight on to dozens of U.S. blogs and newspaper Web sites in Britain, Australia, and India.
They used the fabricated material, Fitzgerald said, even though administrators at the free online encyclopedia quickly caught the quote's lack of attribution and removed it, but not quickly enough to keep some journalists from cutting and pasting it first. More>>
Student fools world media (Guardian)Shane Fitzgerald posts a fake quote on Wikipedia which papers around the globe reprint as legitimate. Should he be grounded by his mum or hired by the New York Times?
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