“There is no doubt that the constant campaign has and the discussions have hurt the U.N,” he [UN Secretary General Kofi Annan] told reporters at U.N. Headquarters. “That is not something we would like. It has done damage, yes.”
“But not as much damage as would happen if we stopped being corrupt” he added once he was off the record. “I mean, who would be willing to work here without the kickbacks? Americans?”.
In the Oct. 17 Sunday Source, the “Gatherings” story described a Republican barbecue held to watch a presidential debate. The item reported “the possibly unprecedented occurrence of a young woman in a cowboy hat pretending to make out with a poster of Dick Cheney.” The item should have explained that the woman was asked to pose with the vice president’s picture by the photographer working for The Washington Post. The woman also did not pretend to “make out” with the picture; at the photographer’s suggestion, she pretended to blow a kiss at it. The item should have explained that the party was hosted in response to a request from The Post, which discussed the decorations and recipes with the host and agreed to reimburse the cost of recipe ingredients.
Now there’s a concept that will make it easy for webloggers to break in to news reporting. Have an event, ask someone to play act whatever deviance you can get away with and then report it as news! Thanks, Washington Post!