When bad quotes happen to good stories

December 29, 2005

The LA Times ran a pretty good front-page story this week on Canadian gray wolves, which have made a comeback thanks to protection under the Endangered Species Act, and difficulties they face from hunters in western states.

In particular, the article quoted Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal declaring that the Endangered Species Act is no longer in force and that the state “now considers the wolf as a federal dog,” unworthy of protection. Unfortunately for the LAT, Freudenthal never said that.

A front-page story in Tuesday’s editions of the Los Angeles Times attributed a quote to Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal that was taken from a fake news release circulated as an April Fool’s joke earlier this year. […]

“The reporter saw it on the Internet and had talked with the governor in the past, so she was familiar enough with the way he talks and writes that she thought it sounded authentic, and she didn’t check, which she should have,” Times Deputy Metro Editor David Lauter told the Casper Star Tribune.

“We hate when this kind of thing happens, and we correct it as quickly as we can,” Lauter said.

The paper, of course, ran a correction and added it to the online version of the article.

I fell for a similar hoax last year, so I can relate to the reporter’s embarrassment. It’s probably best to be careful about too-good-to-be-true quotes we find online, isn’t it?

What is a federal dog anyhow?

  • “It’s probably best to be careful about too-good-to-be-true quotes we find online, isn’t it?”

    Yes, and stories, too, like the recent one on Mao’s
    Little Red Book.

    And the forged documents that got Rather
    fired – although the forgery hasn’t been
    “authenticated” yet, as I understand it.

    These phonies can sometimes kill an
    otherwise perfectly legitimate story, as
    it did in Rather’s case, so it’s doubly
    important to be skeptical and to always
    look for independent confirmation.

  • CB,

    It happens to the best of us!

    I remember, this one time, I think it was back during the 2000 debates, several news sources quoted then Gov. Bush in the Oct. 3rd debate in Boston as saying, “The Vice President (Gore) believes in nation building. I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders.”

    Then, to add insult to injury, these same news sources quoted Bush at the Oct. 11th, 2000 debate at Wake Forest University as saying, “I’m not sure the role of the United States is to go around the world and say this is the way it’s got to be. I want to empower people. I want to help people help themselves, not have government tell people what to do. I just don’t think it’s the role of the United States to walk into a country and say, we do it this way, so should you.

    HA! Imagine the egg on their faces when….Hmmm? What?
    Oh…my colleague was reading over my shoulder and…well, I stand corrected. Never mind.

  • Gridlock,

    disclaimer: I admit to being easily confused.

    question: are you stating that Bush did not speak out against nation building in the 2000 debates? (please see disclaimer above).

  • you mean like when Gov Geo Bush when asked who his favorite *political* philosopher was at the Iowa debates in December 1999 replied “Jesus Christ” – and it’s been widely quoted as his “favorite philosopher”? That kind of stuff happens all the time and no one seems to care, do they?

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