How Soxblog Hoaxed Me About a Non-Hoax

Soxblog recounts how he tipped me that the FDU fired-Nazi story was almost certainly (in his estimation) an April Fool's Day joke, and how he got excited that this could be his mini-Rathergate.

I remember asking him, "Yes, but how do we know it's a hoax?" And then we both began actually -- get this -- fact checking and shit.

My only gloss on this is that I really do understand how investigative reporters get swept up in a story, and want a story to be true. This was such a minor little thing -- at most, we'd be able to say "Ha-ha, Kos and Atrios are idiots," which isn't exactly bringing down Eason Jordan -- and yet we both wanted this to pan out. We both wanted this tiny insignificant scoop.

Fortunately, we actually did have a bit more sketpicism than, say, Mary Mapes, and refrained from going with an unconformed story -- an uncomfirmed suspicion, really -- until we'd gotten the sad news that we had no scoop at all.

posted by Ace at 03:26 PM

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