It's yet another example of the astonishing lack of ethics in our national media. When reporters at the New York Times and USA Today basically just make up their stories, what sort of trust can the public have in the mainstream press? In fact, the public should have very little trust. As we've seen since 9/11, the mainstream media in the United States is primarily a White House propaganda machine. Fox News and CNN, in particular, seem to be nothing more than tabloid trash TV shows that regurgitate whatever pro-war propaganda the White House is spewing that day.
Jack Kelley, by the way, was nominated five times for the Pulitzer Prize. One year, he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, based on a story he apparently just made up. Even the highest prize for journalism, it seems, is not immune to fraud.
Let's face it: journalism in the U.S. sucks. With notable exceptions -- like WIRED and the San Francisco Chronicle -- the U.S. press seems to have forgotten about journalism ethics and, instead, aimed for the highest ratings. That's why we see so much coverage of Michael Jackson, for example: it's meaningless news, but it gets high ratings.
With this latest discovery of fraud at USA Today, the national paper joins the ranks of all the other papers and news networks that have been caught making up stories and misleading the public. Our national media is, quite frankly, shameful. It's one reason why so many people read this site. Here, you get the real story and honest opinion, not some so-called "objective" story that's really just pro-war propaganda or trash entertainment parading as real news.
After spending seven weeks closely examining Kelley's work, a team of
journalists also found that Kelley had lifted quotes or other material
from competing publications, lied in speeches he delivered for USA Today
and conspired to mislead the investigation into his work.
An examination of his computer unearthed scripts Kelley had written to
help at least three people mislead reporters attempting to verify his
work, the newspaper said.
For a story in 2000, the newspaper said, Kelley used a snapshot he
took of a Cuban hotel worker to authenticate a tale he made up about a
woman who died fleeing Cuba by boat.