A journalist at the Wall Street Journal has been caught sourcing quotes for an article on Barak Obama being too thin to be President from a Yahoo Message Board.
In the article Too Fit to be President? , Wall Street Journal political correspondent Amy Chozick endeavored in the best News Corp tabloid style to create a story around the rather bizarre notion that voters wouldn’t vote for Obama because he was too thin, saying that “some Americans wondering whether he is truly like them.”
In the piece, she includes the quote “I won’t vote for any beanpole guy,” and originally didn’t attribute the source. Sadly No reports that the source was a Yahoo Message Board where Chozick actually asked for negative comments using her own name:
Does anyone out there think Barack Obama is too thin to be president? Anyone having a hard time relating to him and his “no excess body fat”? Please let me know. Thanks!
Some of the early responses
Easy to see that for some people in the world, totally meaningless drivel is what keeps them occupied and up at night.
The good news is that these people probably do not see the real problems in the world – living in the one they are in.
Hopefully, there is something that can legally keep you from voting – or remember to vote on November 20th – you will miss the rush!
les1954
Re: Is Obama too skinny to be president? 15-Jul-08 10:21 pm Yes I think He is to skinny to be President.Hillary has a potbelly and chuckybutt I’d of Voted for Her. I won’t vote for any beanpole guy.
onlinebeerbellygirl
I’ve added the emphasis in the last response, but it’s the exact line used in the Wall Street Journal. Yes, Onlinebeerbellygirl is the source.
The Wall Street Journal has since amended the article to include where the comment came from, complete with correction statement at the end of the post. Besides the entire premise of the story being bizarre and trashy at best, is the mainstream media suffering so much from budget cuts and cut throat competition that one of the most respected papers in the world has to resort to sourcing quotes from people known as onlinebeerbellygirl on Yahoo Message Boards? It doesn’t bide well for the future of quality journalism, does it.
