Dishonest Media 101

Randall Hoven's column in American Thinker yesterday is a list of 101 cases of media dishonesty.

We are being fed false and misleading information, in matters big and small. It has come from trusted sources such as established newspapers, experienced journalists, Pulitzer Prize winners and Nobel Peace Prize winners. It has been going on for a long time, sometimes by carelessness and sometimes by deliberate lying. I have compiled a list of 101 such incidents.

And then he provides that list, in alphabetical order. The violations revolve around several categories:

Fell for hoax. Lying. Plagiarism. Doctored photos.

Rather than give you his list, I'll list some of my own infractions.

Fell for hoax: The poodle scam in Japan. Admitted my error the next day.

Lying: I think I made a joke that, if you're humor-impaired, could look like I lied. I tried to find it, but couldn't, so maybe I only thought about making a joke once...

Plagiarism: It's only plagiarism if you quote somebody and don't provide the source. I provide sources whenever possible.

Doctored photos: Uh-oh! Busted. I doctored a photo from Campobello Island, the fifth picture down, of the lighthouse with seaweed rocks in the foreground. I removed some power lines with Photoshop, because I was removing a spot in the sky that was left behind by some dust on my lens, and the spot was right on top of the power lines, so the whole thing had to go.

I doctor photos often, usually either to remove an unsightly spot, or to straighten out the horizon, which my camera has a nasty habit of tilting. I'm sure it's the camera. (Oops. Another lie.) Oh, and I add some unsightly green text to the bottom of most of the pictures. I'm not clever enough to do much more than that with Photoshop.

So that's it. Except for unverifiable sources. Nobody--not even me--will be able to verify that the people I say I talked to at scenic turnouts and RV Parks actually exist. In light of all my journalistic offenses, it might be wise to be skeptical ("sceptical" to you, Jacob).