Did You Know...

**Written by Doug Powers

Another correction from the ever-trustworthy “legitimate news media” Joe Biden referenced yesterday:

Michelle mentioned it this morning, but I thought I’d elaborate…

A WaPo “journalist” reported earlier — in a piece claiming Sarah Palin’s star has fallen and she’s now engaged in a desperate search for attention by thanking people for wishing her happy birthday or something — that Palin would be joining up with Al Jazeera (the Al Gore costume Sarah wore last Halloween was way too convincing).

Via Politico:

The Washington Post has erroneously reported that Sarah Palin, the former vice presidential candidate and former Fox News contributor, is joining the Qatari-owned news network Al Jazeera.

“Late last week Al Jazeera America announced the former vice-presidential candidate would be joining their news network,” the Post’s Suzi Parker writes today in a post on the She The People blog, titled “Sarah Palin’s plan to reach ‘millions of devoutly religious people’ through al-Jazeera.”

Parker calls this “a cautionary tale about what can happen when politics and celebrity meet.”

But Parker’s report is a cautionary tale about what can happen when writers cite satirical websites, such as The Daily Currant.

A correction was issued, and the title changed to “Sarah Palin tries to stay relevant” (‘scuse me… who is having trouble staying relevant?). However, the URL remains the original “Sarah Palin’s plan to reach millions of devoutly religious people through Al Jazeera — Mwa-ha-ha-ha.” Ok, I added that last part, but you get the gist.

Here’s fourth paragraph of the Daily Currant’s “story” about Palin joining Al Jazeera, which was the “source” for Parker’s WaPo article:

“As you all know, I’m not a big fan of newspapers, journalists, news anchors and the liberal media in general,” Palin said. “But I met with the folks at Al-JaJizzraa (sic) and they told me they reach millions of devoutly religious people who don’t watch CBS or CNN. That tells me they don’t have a liberal bias.”

The satire fit the narrative, so the information was instinctively assumed true by the author — obvious 30 Rock references be damned:

New York-based media analyst Elizabeth Lemon says that Palin would help rebrand the network for an American audience.

Layers of fact checkers and editors.

Meanwhile, Palin’s having some fun with it.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe