The Inkwell

This week started off on a very bad note. I wrote an article for Associated Content and cited a story from a reputable travel website. They broke a scandalous story about the star of a popular series of viral videos. They had a video of him claiming that he faked the whole thing, he wasn’t who he said he was, and his videos were all composed of special effects.

I whipped up a version of the story and put it on Associated Content within a few hours of hearing about it. Luckily, Associated Content buried the story deep in their tech news section so very few people read it.

The day after it was published I got an e mail from the gentleman who starred in the videos. He was incensed that I would perpetuate an obviously fabricated rumor.

That hit me hard.

I never thought the reputable travel website would publish false information. And I felt horrible for regurgitating it, assuming it was a real story without digging deeper. Because of my article, the star of the videos was in trouble with his sponsor.

I e mailed him back and apologized profusely. I explained to him that the website’s commentary combined with his convincing looking video led me to write the article without even considering it could be a huge mistake.

The article was removed, the video star and I are now on good terms, and I learned a HUGE lesson about writing. Check, check, re-check the story before publishing.