The essay was written before her English class got to the point where they get to use commas.

Let’s see, the rambling incoherence; the insipid nonsequitars; the run-on sentences with no obvious point. You sure this wasn’t taken from a John Kerry interview?

Bree Laro is NOT the reporter. She never worked for the paper nor wrote for it. She was only the source of the story. She lied to the reporter. Please correct this. Several blogs reposting this story go on these anti-media tirades (and of course there is enough blame to go around there too) but then the blogs themselves have errors in their “reporting.”

I told her I would die if I didn’t get a cell phone because everyone else had one. I did not literally die from this incident and I knew saying it at the time that I wouldn’t actually die but I simply felt so passionate about getting a cell phone that this is how I felt inside.

I bet she really thought she would die.

If her appearance permits, she may have a future in TV Journalism

Bree Laro is NOT the reporter. She never worked for the paper nor wrote for it. She was only the source of the story. She lied to the reporter.

Okay, so instead of The Minaret having a liar for a reporter, they have an incompetent one. Does that make you feel better Chuck?

Congrats, Blarg, on your amazing hindsight. I guess the student reporter should have called out a grieving student and forced her to provide proof her brother was missing. Yes, they story could have been confirmed somehow, but this wasn’t a political story in which a source had an agenda and was likely to lie. A clearly upset student said she was grieving for her missing brother. Why say that to a newspaper that is available on the web? You would have realized then that she was lying? Despite the pics, the friends rallying behind her, the e-mailed notes from her brother? Her amazing detail? Congrats, Blarg. You indeed are a genius in hindsight.

“I guess the student reporter should have called out a grieving student and forced her to provide proof her brother was missing.”

Um, yeah. That’s what reporters do so they don’t end up looking like fools and reporting false information to the public.

“but this wasn’t a political story in which a source had an agenda and was likely to lie.”

Riiiiight.…..

Again, I haven’t seen the original story that quoted Bree Laro, but if there were references to children being blown up in Iraq/ Afghanistan/ wherever, it was pretty self evidently a politicized story. John Kerry had a famous “Genghis Khan” rant about that sort of thing.

I think your paper is handling the error well and I appreciate you keeping my facts straight. I agree that a deception of this magnitude is unusual and my first instinct would also be to take it at face value. But I also think it was naive to assume this isn’t a political story, and one subject to (at least) ideological distortions.

Believe, me I know that every story about war or any other subject is inherently a political story. But the original story wasn’t against the war at all. My point was that she didn’t say her brother was missing and that he saw children blow up in front of him so she, the reporter or the readers could conclude the war is bad. She appeared to be a rah-rah, support our troops, rally around the flag conservative. The original article, which was taken down to honor the wishes of her brother, seemed to have a conservative or at least pro-military take. So how did this become a big liberal- and media-bashing fest? If she was telling the truth, the story on many of the same blogs would have been the big bad bullies of the liberal press hounded this poor sister of a missing patriot. Was a reporter lied to, and could he have done a more thorough job verifying her story? Yes. Would most people having looked at her, her “facts” and the original story, have concluded it was fake? No. It did seem odd. Something did seem fishy. But the paper had heard about this woman’s story for weeks. It wasn’t as if she showed up at the paper’s door step with this tale. We sought her out after hearing about her brother’s story and did three or four interviews with her, even attempting to reach her family. A reporter, who has admitted publicly that he made a mistake, was duped by an amazingly complex series of lies. This isn’t a big liberal conspiracy, as some blogs have made it appear.

PS the original story did not say that he blew up children! It said he saw a child blow up. She implied that the child had been a human IED, something we’ve seen before by involuntary child bombers in Israel, perhaps Iraq or Afghanistan too (I don’t know). No one ever said her brother blew up a kid. Reading this, it would appear to be a reason for supporting the war and the troops, so I think any connections to Kerry are as a result of the erroneous reports about the factual report of the relayed report of her erroneous report.

Stupid question, but since I’m a former journalism student myself, I feel entitled to ask: Did anybody at the paper call the Pentagon to confirm the missing status of the soldier? Seems to be a good idea, doesn’t it?

I find myself in agreement with Charles McKenzie on this one. It’s a student newspaper, and they don’t generally have fact checkers. Checking with the Pentagon would have been smart, but I’ll bet many journalists wouldn’t - including those working for smaller papers with limited resources.

It’s also important that we police our own blogs for accuracy and make corrections when there are mistakes. SeeDubya has done the right thing.

“It’s a student newspaper, and they don’t generally have fact checkers.”

I guess the esteemed reporter couldn’t lower herself from her ivory tower to check the facts herself.

“including those working for smaller papers with limited resources.”

So it takes “resources” now to make a phone call? I’ll have to remember that.

“Squiggy? Did you call the dentist and make an appointment?”

“No dear, i didn’t have the resources.”

Thanks journalism!

If you don’t have fact checkers, you’re not a journalist or a newspaper: you’re a tabloid, like the national Enquirer.

Period.

“It’s a student newspaper, and they don’t generally have fact checkers.”

You’re mistaken. University newspapers, at least those run by journalism schools, expect their reporters to check facts before the publish them. You can lose your job just as easily on a student newspaper as a professional one for plagiarism or not checking facts.

But the real question here is 1) Why did she do this, since she had to have known she would get caught in the lie, and 2) how could anyone have so much disrespect for her own brother to use him like this — when she knew it would get back to him?

I like how she has “concerned friends” who “confirmed” the story. That means she is not some lone freak but a group of like-minded individuals who have no apprehension about conspiring to lie to the student body in order to perpetuate their political views. Classy.

Just a friendly comment to the UT paper reps who are commenting here - Since you are in Tampa, next time you ought to call the CENTCOM Public Affairs Officer on MacDill AFB if someone comes to you with any stories at all related to military serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. There is a very short list of soldiers missing in Iraq (none I think from Afghanistan) and they could surely have helped you out. I realize you might not have thought of this when you were contemplating writing the article, but you are in the best town in the U.S. to determine the truth of this statement! Anyway, thanks for putting the correction out there. Anyone can make mistakes — but how you handle them is what is important.

“rambling incoherence; the insipid nonsequitars; the run-on sentences with no obvious point” Daves, I think you are talking about yourself there.

The URL link for this story has been updated: http://www.theminaretonline.com/2.4598/1.447895

Hey Alex,

thank you for the new link.