Staff Blog
The Internet is screwing with you
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| Fake McCain advisor Martin Eisdenstadt (Eitan Gorlin). Still less of a dick than Sean Hannity. |
| nytimes.com |
Remember a couple days ago that story about Sarah Palin not knowing Africa was a continent? They were all over the place, from pundit-y blogs to MSNBC? The item was supposedly leaked by a McCain adviser named Martin Eisenstadt, but the majority of publications who quoted Eisenstadt and linked to his blog never took the time to vet their seemingly perfect source, and he turned out to be elaborately planned bullshit.
The New York Times has a fascinating article about Dan Mirvish and Eitan Gorlin, the guys behind the faux-Eisenstadt. Mirvish and Gorlin created YouTube videos and a blog, in order to flesh out their character who they planned on pitching as a TV series. Gorlin played Eisenstadt, a senior fellow at the also-faux Harding Institute.
This story brings up all these questions of the nature of reality and constructed identity in the age of the Internet. What's real and what isn't? Reporter Richard Pérez-Peña constantly has to evaluate if what he's being told is a lie and whether his main sources are simply trying to continue their hoax. Just because Mirvish and Gorlin have profiles on IMDB, does that mean they are really filmmakers? Or does that simply give them a fabricated paper trail, just like their creation Eisenstadt? It's kind of mind-boggling. On Eisenstadt's faux blog, he even calls the Times story itself a hoax, saying it's a product of the Yes Men who themselves distributed a fake Times to New Yorkers yesterday. God, this is just screaming out to some philosophy student "MAKE ME YOUR THESIS."
It also makes the media — both old and new — look terrible. There's the basic idea that the blogosphere can perpetuate false information and have major consequences (like, the CNN iReport that claimed Steve Jobs died and sent Apple's stock plummeting). That's not news, and certainly a sore subject when it comes to old media (check out how condescending the Times is when talking about blogs: "But most of Eisenstadt’s victims have been bloggers, a reflection of the sloppy speed at which any tidbit, no matter how specious, can bounce around the Internet.")
Instead, the Eisenstadt hoax reveals that old media, in the race to keep up with the immediacy of blogs, is giving up their one huge advantage over Internet upstarts: fact checking. The likes of the LA Times and the New Republic posted the item without looking beyond the few Eisenstadt YouTube clips so they could keep up with the rest of the Internet. Here's what Eisenstadt wrote on his blog about the whole affair:
For all you fellow travelers spewing such venom in my direction, bite on this for a moment. Before I announced that I was the source for the Palin/Africa story, everyone, without exception, believed it to be true. The only question was who leaked it. Now, as a result of me outing myself, there is doubt about even the original allegations. A smell of fishiness has crept into the whole story. And MSNBC is finally being called out for its rampant biases and sloppy journalism. I believe that’s what they call “taking one for the team”.
It's incredibly disappointing to see these once-venerable news institutions be reduced to playing catch up. What's worse is that blogger William K. Wolfrum did vet Eisdenstadt and debunked most the things he said. Still no one, not bloggers and not the traditional news media figured it out.
We all need to stop caring about getting it fast. We should be caring about getting it right.
I heard an interview with this guy this morning and I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t the original source of the leak, but rather took credit for the leak AFTER it came out. So, the info about Palin might still be credible, but the source is still unknown.
But Katie, that totally feeds into the whole idea of a constructed reality. You’re pretty sure he wasn’t the original source. Why? Because he said he wasn’t? He also said he was an adviser named Martin Eisenstadt.
This isn’t the firt time the Media hasn’t checked sources. Most are becoming extensions of The National Enquirer. Really pathetic.
As far as the 150,000 wardrobe. Think about it…when would she have had time to shop before the GOP convention? Reporters at her VP announcement in Ohio and at the convention were watching her every move. I am sure if they saw her at Neiman’s or Saks, it would have been reported. (Don’t think these stores are in Anchorage, either.)
I’m just trying to give you accurate information. I heard Eitan Gorlin (not Martin
Eisdenstadt) being interviewed this morning on michael smirconish’s show. He said that he picked up the story after it was leaked and decided to name himself as the source. He also talked about the Paris Hilton commercials that McCain ran and said that he actually did leak the story of her parents being mad, but it turned out to be kind of true.
I’m not questioning the fact checking of the media. It is obvioulsy less than stellar. Just trying to give you the correct facts on this story.
You can read more about another take on the NYT article here: http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/11/palin_deserves_an_apology.html
[...] was published the prissy slander that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa is a continent. The staff blog on Philadelphia’s City Paper correctly observes that the Eisentadt-Palin hoax is damning evidence that the so-called traditional [...]
All that this story proves is that journalism is not dead; it just smells like it’s dead.
Don’t you folks get it?! The main story here is not a hoax. I, Sarah Palin really didn’t know what NAFTA is. I kinda still don’t. And I didn’t know that Africa is a continent and not a country. The truth, it seems, is stanger than fiction.
The only hoax is that Marty’s not the true source of the leak. MSNBC ran with the story that he was the leaker, and they were wrong.
However, the truth remains that I, Sarah Palin, did not know that the NAFTA is a trade agreement between our country and Canada and Mexico. And let me just say that running for Vice President has humbled me greatly. I now know just what the VP does every day: deal with complicated things which I know nothing about.
While Marty’ll never work on any of my campaigns ever again, I sure hope that I don’t have to run against the next person who hires him.
For more information about the insights and knowledge that I have regarding foreign policy matters, just go to my website:
http://www.SarahPalin.com
and remember:
Sarah Palin TwentyTwelve!
You betcha.
Hey, folks, the original Palin-Africa story was broken by Fox News, and they have not retracted it. The only thing known to be a hoax is “Martin Eisenstadt”’s claim that he was the source for the Fox story.
and as far as the 150k spree, and her not having time… ever heard of aides? Nobody says she did the sopping herself.
We have some people here that would rather believe it was not a hoax than admit they were so gullible. They swallow all that they read or see and they agree with that which fits their rigidly circumscribed icon of reality. The media trashing of Palin during this campaign reached such a frenzy that Fox, MSNBC, La Times and You did not worry about doubting its truth.
[...] as “Javert” to their “Valjean.” And despite the fact that only a few have mentioned my place in the story, I’m quite happy that my readers were here to see us scoop all of [...]
Ha ha! Martin Eisenstadt pwned the news media! A simple Google search would have shown that the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy is fake. Everyone knows that the dinosaur news media will never change. This isn’t the first hoax that the news media fell for due its lack of any kind of research and this won’t be the last hoax. The dinosaur news media is just going to keep getting pwned by people like Martin until no one can trust their reporting anymore and they go extinct.