[Web4lib] Fwd: [CIRCPLUS] Student admits he lied about Mao book

[Richard Wiggins]

Of course the student is culpable for concocting the hoax, but the
professor who promulgated his hoax to the media under a cloak of
anonymity also shares blame.  I agree it would be preferable if the
student's name were now made public, but his professor and university
are bound by FERPA, and I suspect the university attorney has advised
caution.

Recent events have provided plenty of fodder for a library course in
research methods and in questioning sources:  Wikipedia (Sigenthaler
fraud followed by its co-founder revising Wikipedia history in its own
entry); New York Times (Judith Miller's completely wrong reporting on
WMD; Jayson Blair's fictional stories written from his apartment
instead of from dateline locations); Washington Post (Woodward failing
to disclose what he knew and when he knew it in the Plame case); and
innumerable Net tales swallowed hook, line, and sinker by people who
should know better.

/rich

On 12/26/05, Dan Lester <dan at riverofdata.com> wrote:
> As some of us suspected, the whole thing was a fraud. Lots of
> librarians and others all excited over nothing. Were it up to me, I'd
> release the guy's name and hope that some sanctions can be taken
> against him.
>
> dan
>