Worst excuse for making up quotes?

Is anyone buying what this reporter is selling?

http://therinkreport.blogspot.ca/2013/02/boucher-murray-deny-comments-27.html?m=1

http://m.poststar.com/mobile-touch-2/?disableTNStatsTracker=1&asset=0a7c2af0-70e6-11e2-bd3d-001a4bcf887a#0a7c2af0-70e6-11e2-bd3d-001a4bcf887a

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20130208/SPORTS/302080102/B-Sens-correction?nclick_check=1

 

those excuses seem pretty flimsy, but given that ben bishop is my best friend's cousin, the "i would never call ben bishop the best goalie in the ahl" was even more brutal

 

This job was posted here last summer. Great hire.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/92671/

 

Total bullshit. I can understand making the mistake of having a quote written down and in the haste of writing attributing it to the wrong person. But covering a game story and running a quote from last year? That would not sit well with me if I were his editor.

 

Looks like he made this crap up to cover his @$$. I don't buy one word of it either.

If I'm his editor, I suspend him for two weeks with no pay, and tell him he should play the lotto because he's very lucky.

 

This thread title begs the question, is there ever a good excuse for making up quotes?

Simple rule, if you don't have the quote, don't pretend you do. And don't ever try to rehash a quote from three months ago and try to pass it off as a live quote for a gamer, especially when the subject didn't address the media afterwards.

I remember when this job came up and so wanted to apply but couldn't, living in Canada and all makes it a little difficult to apply for jobs in the U.S. -- gotta get my dual citizenship, damnit. This kind of shit pisses me off to no end.

 

Two weeks?

If this isn't a fireable offense, what is?

 

Found it interesting the two interview subjects in question are fairly well-known people in their sport, rather than AHL nobodies.

I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't a warped attempt by the reporter to boost his bona fides.

 

Begs the question. We need Fallacy Police.

 

Two weeks? If this guy worked for me, he's history ... and depending on my mood, either walks out the door or gets thrown through it ...

 

Making up facts, quotes or anything else and passing it off as journalism is a fireable offense. A two-week suspension is ridiculous.

Also, as I have learned, if a reporter does something like this, odds are it isn't the first time he's done so. If I were his boss, I'd also investigate literally every one of his past stories to ensure they had accurate quotations.

 

Matt Weinstein had actually been with the paper for a year before that opening. His Linkedin said he was a Paginator/copy editor and a 10-year vet. Their twitter lists him as a hockey writer.