Wise Suspeneded for his tweet about Big Ben

[ramblinjim]

[url="http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100831/sp_yblog_upshot/washington-post-suspends-columnist-for-twitter-hoax"]http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20 ... itter-hoax[/url]

Washington Post suspends columnist for Twitter hoax
By Michael Calderone
By Michael Calderone michael Calderone – Tue Aug 31, 11:17 am ET

The Washington Post has suspended veteran sports columnist Mike Wise for publishing fabricated information on Twitter. He announced the one-month suspension on his radio show Tuesday.

Wise claimed Monday that he wanted to prove a point about how reporters will run stories in today's fast-moving news environment without independently verifying the information. So Wise tweeted that Pittsburgh Steelers star Ben Roethlisberger, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a Georgia college student, would get a five-game suspension. Of course, since Wise is a respected sportswriter, other news outlets went with the apparent scoop and cited his reporting.
These days, reporters routinely break news on Twitter, only to follow up on blogs, in newspapers or on the air. Understandably, Wise encountered a backlash from his peers, and the Post's sports editor responded by re-circulating among his staff the paper's guidelines on correctly using social media.

Wise wrote on Twitter after the incident that he's "an idiot" and offered "apologies to all involved." But the columnist still didn't appear to grasp just why Twitter users (including other journalists) assume respected journalists are publishing accurate information on the medium. "I was right about nobody checking facts or sourcing," he added along with Monday's apology.

However, Wise acknowledged on his radio show Tuesday he "made a horrendous mistake" and that the hoax cost him some of his "own credibility."
The Post would not confirm Wise's suspension. "We take these matters very seriously; however, we do not discuss personnel issues," a spokeswoman told The Upshot.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

Re: Wise Suspeneded for his tweet about Big Ben

He would have made his point stronger if he posted as anonymous.

He is right in saying that reporters run with anything in order to get a story out, but he was wrong in doing what he did.

[grotonsteel]

Re: Wise Suspeneded for his tweet about Big Ben

Now when will Goodell be suspended for his stupid decision???

[siss]

Re: Wise Suspeneded for his tweet about Big Ben

He has to suspend himself and appeal to himself.

[D Rock]

Re: Wise Suspeneded for his tweet about Big Ben

yeah it's not the same when people run with a story from a known commodity as if they run with a story from any old joe posting on twitter.

I'm sure if I created an account and posted that Ben was getting 5 games, even idiots like Florio would check on that info before running it under their own name.

[proudpittsburgher]

Re: Wise Suspeneded for his tweet about Big Ben

yeah it's not the same when people run with a story from a known commodity as if they run with a story from any old joe posting on twitter.

I'm sure if I created an account and posted that Ben was getting 5 games, even idiots like Florio would check on that info before running it under their own name.

First rule of journalism . . . if your mom tells you she loves you, go check it out.

[ikestops85]

Re: Wise Suspeneded for his tweet about Big Ben

yeah it's not the same when people run with a story from a known commodity as if they run with a story from any old joe posting on twitter.

I'm sure if I created an account and posted that Ben was getting 5 games, even idiots like Florio would check on that info before running it under their own name.

But how did Florio know that this tweet even came from Wise? You can open a Twitter account under anybodies name. People are doing it all the time now. Anyone who doesn't verify information obtained from social networking is a dumbarse. Proof of that is look who ran with this.

[Iron Shiek]

Re: Wise Suspeneded for his tweet about Big Ben

Ben gets suspended for 4 weeks for alleged rape, this guy gets suspended for 4 weeks for alleged story about alleged rape. None of this makes sense.

I think it would take a player shooting into a strip club crippling someone while at the same time running a dude over on the way to the airport with a trunk full of guns but hitting 8 parked cars en route and then punching the TSA agent on camera to get a 1 game suspension out of Rog.

[cruzer8]

Re: Wise Suspeneded for his tweet about Big Ben

yeah it's not the same when people run with a story from a known commodity as if they run with a story from any old joe posting on twitter.

I'm sure if I created an account and posted that Ben was getting 5 games, even idiots like Florio would check on that info before running it under their own name.

But how did Florio know that this tweet even came from Wise? You can open a Twitter account under anybodies name. People are doing it all the time now. Anyone who doesn't verify information obtained from social networking is a dumbarse. Proof of that is look who ran with this.

If Wise's account is verrified then he would know. If Wise has been tweeting under that account for a long period of time and the account has never been questioned as being a fake then he would know.