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Lazy hacks nicked Wackypedia quote

by on07 May 2009

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Student has laugh at their expense


Hacks writing
the obituary of French composer Maurice Jarre may not have researched past his entry on Wackypedia.

A quote which was attributed to Jarre was salted into the wackypedia entry by Shane Fitzgerald, a final-year undergraduate student who wanted to show how bad the press has been getting these days.

The quote said: “'One could say my life itself has been one long soundtrack. Music was my life, music brought me to life, and music is how I will be remembered long after I leave this life. When I die there will be a final waltz playing in my head, that only I can hear.”

Fitzgerald posted the quote on Wikipedia late at night after news of Jarre's death broke and he knew that hacks would be looking up information on Jarre. The quote had no referenced sources and was therefore taken down by moderators of Wikipedia, but Fitzgerald put it back up a few more times.

It was on the site for more than 24 hours and that was just long enough. He thought the quote would just end up on a few blogs, but it's appearance on mainstream quality newspapers surprised him.

Fitzgerald e-mailed offending newspapers to tell them that they had published an inaccurate quote. Recently the Guardian printed a correction and an article about the hoax.
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