Washington Post sports columnist Mike Wise has been suspended for fabricating a story on Twitter. His one-month suspension came after Wise admitted that he fabricated a story about Pittsburgh Steelers star Ben Roethlisberger to show how fast a story is picked up today through the new media. It was picked up — quickly followed by the story of his suspension.
The one-month suspension might strike Ben Roethlisberger as a bit light since Wise told people that he was accused of sexually assaulting a Georgia college student and would receive a five-game suspension. That is a pretty horrible way of making a point — to accuse another individual of rape to show how many people would believe it.
Source: Yahoo
Jonathan Turley
From the article ” … to accuse another individual of rape to show how many people would believe it. …”
What in the world was this guy thinking?! Bizarre.
I can’t approve of his behavior. That doesn’t make me hate blind gossiping and gullibility any less.
It’s a flawed experiment along with being mired in questionable ethics. Wise is (was) a respected reporter. It is reasonable for other outlets to pick up such a story if attributed to him. This seems more publicity stunt than social commentary. It’s as if Margaret Mitchell penned “Gone With The Wind” as a residential real estate listing for Tara Plantation.
So what happened to the cross dressing kinky sexual aficionado sports guy caught in a Hotel room with a Hooker? He was not wise either……It must be something about sports.
Mr. Wise will have reason to be grateful if his suspension is not followed by a libel suit.
Does Ben Roethlisberger have any legal recourse or is this just part and parcel of being a sports figure?
… asked and answered
Did he admit to doing this really? This sounds incredibly stupid…surely a reporter has more sense, common and otherwise, than to engage in such a strange manner….
‘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. ‘(source story)
so the mis-information was the bit about the suspension…..NOT the sexual assault….?…..now how can I go about my day raving this up if I don’t have the facts….!!!!!
Wow.
Compound stupidity.
Unfortunately becoming more of a common occurrence as time goes on.
Ben Rothlisberger has already raped four women; but, his money and power got him off. He is a scumbag.
Yes, Professor Turley, I think you have the facts a bit wrong here. The only aspect of the story that the reporter made up was the 5 game suspension (as most other sports journalists reported that it was likely to only be 4 games). Still despicable in terms of journalistic ethics, but he did not slur Roethlisberger.
Lee is correct..
My question is: are twitterers under oath?
Last time I checked Sarah Palin was on there…. now talk about fabricating stories.
Jericho I think it has more to do with media ethics and integrity…if he was a politician no one would have batted an eye…