From the NS:


Anatomy of a cock-up: how the People's fake Roger Moore interview made it to New Zealand

Featuring a cameo from Mail Online.

BY ALEX HERN PUBLISHED 21 JANUARY 2013 15:47


The Sunday People's apology for a Roger Moore interview which never happened has been spread far and wide:

On 16 September we published an article headed “I’ve had Moore women than James Bond” which claimed that Sir Roger Moore had recently spoken exclusively to The People and made comments to our journalist about his private life.

We now accept that Sir Roger did not give an interview to our reporter and did not make the comments that were reported in the headline.

We apologise for any distress and embarrassment our article has caused to Sir Roger Moore and we have agreed to pay him damages and legal costs.
But what also spread far and wide was the "interview" itself. That's not quite so good, given it didn't actually happen.

Firstly, it appears the Daily Mail lifted the interview — rewriting a piece from another newspaper as a news story of their own, usually not crediting the original source in the process. Since we know the encounter between Moore and the People's journalist never actually happened, they must not have checked with Moore or anyone involved with him. Instead, they appeared to have directly re-printed quotes from the now-removed People piece.

The Mail piece is also down, though. So how do we know it existed? Because the Australian Associated Press picked it up, and syndicated it out as news to its subscribers. And those stories are still up.

Take this one, from New Zealand's Otago Daily Times:

British actor Roger Moore says he has bedded more beauties than the suave, sophisticated and fictional spy who made him famous.

The four-time married 84-year-old who played James Bond for 12 years in seven films, told Britain's Daily Mail he was more suited to the phrase: "Moore ... Roger More" than his on-screen persona's famous introductory line "Bond ... James Bond".

"I've always been a hit with the ladies," Moore said.

"I couldn't possibly say how many I've been out with because I'm a gentleman. But more importantly, I just haven't kept count. I've had more women than James Bond. It was always `Moore ... Roger More'."
Moore didn't actually say any of that, of course. It all seems to have been taken from the retracted interview. But that doesn't stop the 49 news sites which have reprinted that exact quote, word for word, punctuation for punctuation. As for the headline claim — that he said "I've had more women than James Bond" — 216 places have carried the claim.

When it comes to best journalistic practices, this is obviously an argument for doing your own research. But if nothing else, it's an argument for actually making the most of the fact that the internet, unlike paper, lets you link back to your sources, so that you — and readers — can notice if you've used a claim which has since been retracted.

If nothing else, it helps avoid embarrassing mess-ups like this.

The one thing we still don't know is why the Sunday People ran the interview in the first place. Were they duped by a fake Moore or a bad freelancer? Or were they the dupers, hoping that no-one involved with Moore would notice?

Great story Pru... and the reason? Two four (ish) word phrases that I've been banging on about all century -

It's A Great Story

and

You Will Be Believed

The latest to confirm this is the 'fictitious' twitter account set up by the Rev Paul Flowers.
From the beginning it was very suspicious, but no - the Daily Mail, ITV, and Evening Standard fell for it 'hook, line and sinker', quoting and commenting on tweets supposedly written by Paul Flowers.
Lazy irresponsible journalism - possibly, but more like 'It's a great story', let's print it, as it 'must be true'

Gnomo wrote:
The latest to confirm this is the 'fictitious' twitter account set up by the Rev Paul Flowers.
From the beginning it was very suspicious, but no - the Daily Mail, ITV, and Evening Standard fell for it 'hook, line and sinker', quoting and commenting on tweets supposedly written by Paul Flowers.
Lazy irresponsible journalism - possibly, but more like 'It's a great story', let's print it, as it 'must be true'

believe me...I've had arguments with hack pals who believe every bit of tosh that is re-printed and site the re-prints as proof, especially about the Savile matter.

I'm very wary of talking to them now because they start to give you odd looks.

As an aside...I had some (working class east End) friends come through town after visiting extended family in Perth.

Perth is about 35% British born and around BBQs etc they say the general consensus is that the Savile claims are all about grasping some money.

take the Brits away from their hideous ghastly tabloids and put them in the sun and they start to modify their view.

Agreed Hedda. I am in Cape Town, and the Saville case is considered as a 'compensation grabbing' exercise by the majority of expats.
Even more worrying is the general attitude towards the British media, which is extremely negative.
One comment made to me in a bar last night by an expat, was how refreshing Scottish law seems to be. No 'arrests' but a simple detention during questioning. No public or media allowed into the first court appearance. Everything seems to have been carried out in a dignified, professional and considerate manner - far from the shocking 'media scrum' that surround English murder investigations.