Too Useful to Check: Us Magazine Falls For Fake Palin-Aguilera Story
By Tom Blumer | February 10, 2011 | 02:10
B-Us-ted.
GossipCop.com reports that Us Weekly just did something extraordinarily dumb (bolds, italics, and link are in original):
Whoops! Us Weekly Publishes Sarah Palin/Christina Aguilera Spoof as Fact
This is really bad.
Us Weekly has published what it claims are comments made by Sarah Palin, in which the former vice presidential candidate blasts Christina Aguilera’s performance of the national anthem at Super Bowl XLV.
Except the over-the-top “quotes,” which Us Weekly attributes to a Monday radio interview with Sean Hannity, were actually written for a satire website.
Again: Palin’s Aguilera comments are fabricated.
What follows is a Google result showing a bit of the text in the now removed piece, along with what appears to be part of an immature reader comment, followed by Gossip Cop's screen grab of the item (note the unflattering picture of Palin):
Gossip Cop's final two paragraphs on the matter:
It boggles the mind that a major outlet could read these obviously satirical, fake quotes and treat them as the real deal.
However badly Aguilera botched the anthem last Sunday, Us Weekly just did a hundred times worse.
After 2-1/2 years of "Who's Trig's real mom?" and similar garbage from people who consider themselves respectable (but aren't), this just shows that quite a few people in supposedly responsible positions are willing to believe anything thrown out there about Sarah Palin, and run with it without checking.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
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Comments
Obviously...
Submitted by Too Old To Be Cool on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 3:41am.
...they saw that it was an anti-Palin article and took it as fact. Because after all, nobody would say anything bad about Sarah Palin and NOT mean it. /sarc
Well, that sounds about right to them.
Submitted by Servo1969 on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 5:18am.
"The fake “Palin” also talks about wanting to “deport” Aguilera, because “spicy Latin princesses” shouldn’t be allowed to sing at the Super Bowl.
“Unemployment is at nine percent, yet we have to suffer through a performance by a foreigner with a poor grasp of the English language,” the fake “Palin” supposedly tells “Hannity” in the phony interview."
Well, that sounds about right to them. After all, 'they' just know that's something she 'would' say, right?
Garbage Begets Garbage!
Submitted by GeneralAl on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 6:20am.
These blundering fools probably believe in the flat earth theory! Small wonder they would swallow this satire as truth. Its also heart warming to read the comment of the "intelligent intellectual" about Palin. It demonstrates that we're devolving in our IQ!!
"Old Soldiers never die, they just fade away"!
Don't worry
Submitted by Cyborg 0427 on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 6:30am.
This only helps her. There is so much comming from these goofballs that i am really considering giving her support because if they hate her so badly maybe there is more too her than I thought.
Will they...
Submitted by Tuari on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 6:35am.
Will they retract it? Issue a correction? A public appology? Either way, they probably intended to cause damage and did so. Hopefully it does help Palin. I wonder if she'll sue for that. She'd have every right to, and "should" win easily.
That's nothing...
Submitted by mzk1 on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 6:45am.
How many people believe that Palin said she could see Russia from her house (actually, Tina Fey said that)? I've heard her quoted here, and I'm 6,000 miles east of the U.S.
I'd love to see a national (and international!) poll on the subject. Maybe it could be done like that fake study on Fox News viewers?
false but true
Submitted by MidAmerica on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 7:29am.
I'm not so sure this was an actual unintended error.
Right, MidAmerica
Submitted by ThisnThat on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 9:02am.
After all, it's not the facts that are important in any Palin story -- it's the seriousness of the charge. In their feeble minds, if it could have happened, then it might happen -- and if it might happen, then they want to get ahead of the story and predict that it will happen -- and heck, since there's a probability (however small) that the predictions will come true -- then why don't they just publish it as true, and let the facts catch up with us later?
As for a correction? As MB said elsewhere on this thread, they'll just have to wait a while and see if the facts catch up with them, and if not -- say, after a few weeks or months -- yeah, they'll publish a correction on page 89. In small print.
It's their template. And over the past two years, all the libs have learned that there is absolutely no downside to bashing Palin. So, they can say and do and publish anything they want, and get away with it. Integrity be damned.
__________
“Didn't win the Medal of Honor? Didn't even serve? Then lie about it. We'll support you." — 9th Circuit Court
I remember some lib posted a
Submitted by bretzysdude on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 7:34am.
*double post, see next entry*
I remember some lib posted a
Submitted by bretzysdude on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 7:34am.
I remember some lib posted a link on Facebook to a website where a leftist organization is promoting "Ignore Sarah Palin Week" in a couple of weeks. I laughed out long and loud at this, because I know for a fact that they WON'T and CAN'T ignore Sarah Palin. 1) By setting up a site like that means they acknowledge her anyway, and 2) it's not in their minds to ignore her, because deep in their black hearts, they will not resist find any sort of way to insult and de-fame her, be it real or fake stories. This US article is just a classic example, and there will be many more of them, even during that ridiculous "Ignore" week.
The irony - a concept utterly
Submitted by PeskyDane on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 9:37am.
The irony - a concept utterly lost on the Left - is that the over-whelming support for this would come from those of us who have a favorable view of Governor Palin.
this just shows that quite a
Submitted by motherbelt on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 7:36am.
this just shows that quite a few people in supposedly responsible positions are willing to believe anything thrown out there about Sarah Palin, and run with it without checking.
and then, a couple of weeks later, after they've gotten the mileage out of it, they publish a tiny "oops" in their little "corrections" column, and think that's enough.
Everyone wants the NEWS to be
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 7:54am.
Everyone wants the NEWS to be on an electronic source and now there is one by Murdock. Considering the proliferation of articles like this are the electronic news sources going to be credible or are they going to devolve into trash like this?
There appears to be an
Submitted by andrew - des moines on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 9:22am.
There appears to be an unwritten rule among 'journolists' that writing anything critical of Palin is acceptable, encouraged, and not at all detrimental to career or reputation. Just like the target map ambush, truth becomes unimportant when it comes ot opportunities to tear down Palin's image in the public's mind. Millions will read the article an believe it (including many of the Grizzlies). Few will read the tiny correction in the next publication.
The lesson for conservatives is that these tactics will be applied to any inspirational leader conservatives put forth. If we are to avoid McCain II, the time is now to battle this tactic and beat it back. Regardless your view on Palin, if this approach remains viable for the MSM, conservatives will be relegated to the least of its potential leaders in the future.
Pawlenty articulated this principle, re. foreign policy
Submitted by TexasMom0517 on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 12:16pm.
I think it was Tim Pawlenty the other day, who articulated this principle regarding U.S. foreign policy. He said we all learned in elementary school that bullies are only emboldened by weakness.
The GOP needs to get rid of its "original guilt" complex, decide they don't care if they won't get invited to Sallie Quinn/Ben Bradlee's "salons," and push back hard every time the legacy media "bully boys" start trashing candidates. Breibart has the attitude right, so did Reagan, though Reagan did it with a Cary Grant sort of smoothness.
Any GOP candidate needs to preemptively disclose and defuse any potential "issues" and challenge the bullying as soon as it occurs- rapid response, if you will. Read Alinsky's book and take it seriously, the Dems do. As Patton said, "Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!"
Now then.
Submitted by Ashrak on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 9:29am.
I have long enjoyed websites with comments forums where people get hooked into a satire article, get all salty and snap off - only to realize, at some point, that they bought into something totally fabricated for laughs. I never thought Establishment media would go beyond spinning and omission and enter into printing as true the satire articles.
There is no way they didn't check it. They found multiple sources, multiple websites and considered it fact checked. After all, there were links! Links make facts these days, or so many forum posters say.....
More will fall into this trap. I gonna get some popcorn.
They know what they are doing.
Submitted by ghost of Mary Jo Kopechne on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 12:25pm.
Put up a negative article then retract it weeks later. Your average liberal won't know the difference. Damage done!
Support Our Troops. God bless the US military.
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This is pretty sad, I know the media has a vendetta for Sarah
Submitted by Boudin on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 10:30pm.
But this is disgusting all the way around. Imagine having folks saying awful stuff like this about you, for fun, and as truth. Just horrible, I really have a lot of empathy for the Palin's.
Maybe NB needs to create
Submitted by texasborngranny on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 10:54am.
Maybe NB needs to create a page of their articles that point out all the instances of the lib media falling for, and/or using, fake/satirical articles and comedy routines as news items.