Ben Smith's 'Politico' disaster

disaster area pictured above.

Ben Smith, the author of the blog, Politico, made it to the bloggger's mecca today - The Drudge Report. Most unfortunately for Smith, it was not his first-to-release news item announcing John Edwards campaign suspension based on an undisclosed and unverified source, but an apology explaining that his first-to-release news item based on an undisclosed and unverified source was wrong.

"A single, confident source close to John Edwards told me this morning that Edwards was 'suspending his campaign,' and I posted it to the blog at 11:06 this morning. My source, and I, were wrong."


Wrong, or lying? Edwards Campaign spokeswoman, Kate Bedingfield had this to say:

"Anything you are getting from someone claiming to know right now is not true - anyone claiming to know something right now is making it up." (Italics mine.)

It would appear that in your mission to be the first to post new items on the web (the Drudge machine cannot be stopped!) you've managed to succeed in exposing the naivety of all major news outlets. Not one media giant stopped to verify your source. A classic example of the blind leading the blind. My hat's off to you, Ben Smith. You are truly doing the Lord's work.

Tech Tags: Ben+Smith Politico John+Edwards Cancer Campaign Drudge+Report Chaseblogger