Journalists and bloggers challenged with false reports
A sports journalist for the Washington Post posted a deliberate false report on Twitter. His intention was to prove that journalists and bloggers often accept and publish information without verifying it. As a result, he was suspended by his employer for one month.
Journalist Mike Wise published a fictitious report about a suspension for NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. This was promoted by a number of websites, including The Miami Herald and NBC's "Pro Football Talk". Hours after the post, Wise announced that the news was a hoax. Many sports bloggers were furious and felt that Wise and his newspaper were no longer a credible news source. The Washington Post suspended the sports journalist as a result. Wise apologized for the incident. With his action, however, he had succeeded in highlighting the importance of Twitter as an important information pipeline, according to the industry service Pressetext.
