A bogus news story about college students getting herpes from a drinking game contained a fake quote from Arizona State University president Michael Crow, according to a correction by the Los Angeles TV station KNBC.
The erroneous article claims the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control has concerns about the herpes virus being spread through beer pong. Crow was reported to have commented on the scandalous situation:
"We're aware that we cannot outright prevent (beer pong), so we have provided new red cups available to all students in the dorms."
In fact, Crow was never even contacted by the story's author, say ASU officials. A college news wire service picked up the story, which was subsequently reprinted in college publications.
The TV station only removed the article after inquiries from the East Valley Tribune, the Trib reports today. The Trib quotes the station's senior news editor blaming the mistakes on an editorial assistant.
Though news sites unhooked links to the article, misinformation on the Internet has a tendency to persist in the blogosphere.
In fact, Crow was never even contacted by the story's author, say ASU
officials. A college news wire service picked up the story, which was
subsequently reprinted in college publications.
The TV station only removed the article after inquiries from the East Valley Tribune, the Trib reports today. The Trib quotes the station's senior news editor blaming the mistakes on an editorial assistant.
Though news sites unhooked links to the article, misinformation on the Internet has a tendency to persist in the blogosphere. Clearly, this is yet another embarrassing moment in modern journalism.
Yet there's a nugget of truth to this idea of beer pong leading to herpes. It just requires one extra step following the game.