Rieder: A flurry of hoaxes bedevil the media
- Atlanta morning radio guys fooled many news outlets with staged anti-Bieber protest
- %27The New York Times%27 revealed author of popular Twitter feed wasn%27t who he said he was
- Twitter hoaxes have become a cottage industry
When Marvin Gaye told us to believe half of what you see and none of what you hear, guess he was on to something.
This just isn't shaping up as a great week as far as the credibility of media, both traditional and social, is concerned.
We've got coverage of a protest in Atlanta that turned out to be a publicity stunt, and the unmasking of a popular but phony Twitter account that netted its author a book contract.
We start with news reports that outraged Atlantans were protesting Justin Bieber's alleged threat to move to their fair city. More than 30 news outlets picked up the story, according to website iMediaEthics.
They ran the gamut from CNN and Time to Gawker, TMZ and the New York Post.
The gist was that the Buckhead Neighborhood Coalition was determined to keep the trouble-prone pop star out of the 'hood.
"We're concerned he'll bring the wrong type of element into a quiet, residential area," one local purportedly told CNN. "It is our position that a person with his means could certainly find a neighborhood more suited to his eclectic lifestyle."
The coalition's Facebook page warned darkly, "Justin Bieber's relocation to Atlanta can be nothing but bad for our children, as well as the community. Some can't even let their children play in the driveway without fear; he has raced vehicles under the influence, before. What's to say he won't do it again?"
Trouble was, the whole thing was a hoax, pulled off by The Regular Guys, who host a morning show on Atlanta radio.
In a laudable anatomy of how it had gone for the fake, CNN reported that The Regular Guys were thrilled by the success of their hoax and amazed at how eagerly media outlets had gobbled up the story, "missing the potential warning signs of new Twitter and Facebook accounts."
The Bieber sleight of hand was a one and done. That's nothing compared with the elaborate, three-year hoax exposed by The New York Times. The Times revealed that the widely followed Twitter account @GSElevator, featuring crass comments supposedly overheard in the elevator at Goldman Sachs, was the handiwork of someone who not only doesn't work at the financial powerhouse but who lives in Texas, not Manhattan.
@GSElevator's tweets attracted more than 600,000 followers, according to the Times, and triggered an investigation by Goldman Sachs to track down the culprit. Guess we can see why it was unsuccessful.
The Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin identified the prolific tweeter as John Lefevre, who had worked for Citigroup and at least once had a job offer from Goldman, although he apparently never worked there.
Lefevre's Twitter exploits snagged him a deal to write a book based on his tweetfest. Astonishingly, the publisher, Touchstone, part of Simon & Schuster, was unfazed by its author's exposure. "He's been pretty straight with us the entire time, so this is not a surprise," the Times quoted the book's editor, Matthew Benjamin, as saying. "That you're writing about him speaks to the interest he's generated."
So let me get this straight: The fact that your author has been circulating and (basing your book on) things he "overheard" in an elevator he was nowhere near is OK?
Of course, Twitter hoaxes hardly come as a surprise. They are pretty much a cottage industry.
Late last year, the Twitterverse lit up over a confrontation (via passed notes) between airline passengers. The flap, flogged by the viral-content virtuosos at BuzzFeed, turned out to have been made up by a TV producer with too much time on his hands.
Soon afterward came the way-too-good-to-check story about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's feeding his uncle to 120 ravenous dogs. Widely circulated, picked up by news outlets that should know better — and again, totally bogus. (USA TODAY ran an account by its content partner Newser.)
And don't forget the legions of very-much-alive people who have "died" on Twitter.
It's a highly competitive media world out there, where things move very quickly. And social media provide an unrivaled opportunity for those compelled to weave their webs of deceit to reach a large audience instantly.
So the lesson for news outlets and news consumers alike is to heed the wisdom of Hill Street Blues: Let's be careful out there.
Rieder is USA TODAY's media editor and columnist