Sunday, June 26, 2005

BEE'S DIRTY LAUNDRY PILES UP


Having anything positive to say about The Sacramento Bee isn't something I do, but to be fair I must give them credit for reporting the results of an earlier in-house investigation, though it pains me to do so.

Back in May, Bee columnist Diana Griego Erwin, was allowed to resign because she was unable to verify the existence of some people mentioned in her stories. Translated: She was fired for making them up. Erwin's exposure wouldn't be that surprising except for the fact she's a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. The west coast's version of Jason Blair. The Bee promised to dig further into her back columns to see if they could be verified, and the results, so far, are off the charts. Up to this point the Bee can't verify the existence of 43 people mentioned in her columns.

The Bee hasn't gone all the way back to the beginning of her writing career yet, but it looks like this won't end until they take a peek at her papers from college. If you're a news junkie, and I know you are, today's article is a must read.

UPDATE: I forgot to add that The Bee requires free registration. This article is worth the price of admission, though. Thanks to John at Marathon Pundit for that reminder.

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