Other than a handful of eyewitness accounts from foreign prostitutes who say they slept with Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), there’s no smoking gun to prove he’s guilty of any of it.

Then again, that was about all it took for much of the media to hop on and fully indict former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. And if not fully indict, at least take a closer look at what kind of sausage he was using on his pizza, if you catch our drift.

Menendez has denied the reports, mostly produced by The Daily Caller and Breitbart News, which have gone after the senator with pitchforks. He told CNN the reports were “smears that right-wing blogs have been pushing since the election.” Meanwhile, Politico has at least entertained the idea of Menendez being guilty.

What do you think? Take our Fish Poll and we’ll post the results tomorrow.

The results of yesterday’s Fish Poll are in…

In light of an excessive fudging of facts as news broke Friday of a shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, we asked: “What’s the media lesson in the Sandy Hook shooting?”

Exactly 50 percent of respondents said journalists should “try harder; we should be more willing to slow down, step back and be careful.”

Nearly one in four (28.26%) took a harder stance. They chose the answer “Some people shouldn’t be working in media if they don’t know how to fact check and get it right.”

The third most-selected answer (17.39%): “Reporters were just doing their jobs the best they could; besides, much of the information reported, though inaccurate, was relayed by officials on scene.”

And finally, just 4.35 percent said, “It’s breaking news; mistakes are inevitable and everyone knows that.”

Now This News has a handy video on this subject. Check it out here (and pay attention to the mood lighting; it’ll guide you on how to feel while watching).

In the heat of the moment last Friday, the news media fudged many of the facts regarding the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Most glaring was misidentifying the shooter as Ryan Lanza rather than Adam Lanza.

Given the severity of the situation, it’s only natural that some would be upset about journalists screwing up the facts. “If you’re wondering why the public dislikes the media, scummy behavior like this doesn’t help,” The Week‘s Matthew Lewis wrote.

BuzzFeed posted the “9 Things The Media Got Wrong About The Sandy Hook Shooting.” TheBlaze (where I work) ran “The Confusing Things About the Conn. School Shooting That Got Reported Wrong.” Kiri Blakeley at CafeMom said botching the facts made both the media and the internet “look pathetic.”

Somewhat more sympathetically, Reuters media critic Jack Shafer wrote a column detailing the inaccuracies, concluding “don’t expect too much [in breaking news]. You won’t be disappointed.”

Going forward, what’s the lesson here? Is there one? Take our Fish Poll… Read more

Today we ask readers to put themselves in freelance photographer R. Umar Abbassi‘s shoes in the wake of the fatal subway incident in which a man was pushed to his death. Would you have shot the picture or helped pull the man to safety? Abbassi said he was too far away to help. The New York Post published the searing picture on its cover today.

Take our poll.

Claiming an infringement on its trademark rights, NYT had a parody Twitter account suspended this morning.

NYTOnIt, known for mocking needlessly in-depth stories produced by NYT, was reactivated shortly after its creator Benjamin Kabok made an appeal to Twitter. But in the brief time that the account disappeared, there was an outpouring of tweets by journalists bemoaning the loss:

• “Noooo!”– CBS News producer Sarah Boxer
• “Noooooooo.”– HuffPost‘s Elise Foley
• “We didn’t want the NYT to be THIS on it “– BuzzFeed‘s Rebecca Berg.
• “Guys, corporate media lawyers have no sense of humor and the Times is on it!”– Mother Jones Senior Editor Dave Gilson
• “I love that it took NYT several months to get angry about @NYTOnIt.”– HuffPost‘s Ryan Grim

NYT Spokeswoman Eileen Murphy told Poynter that NYT did request Twitter disable the account. She said the company wanted to ensure its trademark “T” logo was protected. When the parody account account was reactivated, the profile image was removed.

Kabok is now hosting a contest for followers to design and submit an original logo, but is it really necessary?

To the left are both logos side by side. The one with the white background and ink smudge at the top of the “T” was the one used by NYTOnIt.

Cornell’s Legal Information Institute lays out the definition of trademark infringement: “Trademark law protects a trademark owner’s exclusive right to use a trademark when use of the mark by another would be likely to cause consumer confusion as to the source or origin of goods.”

It’s possible the parody account’s “T,” written with the same font as NYT‘s trademark, could cause confusion among some media incompetent fool. Also, the parody account does almost exclusively link to NYT material, which might lead some to think the two are interrelated. So we ask you: Should NYTOnIt be forced to change its profile image?

Answer our Fish Poll. We’ll post the results tomorrow. Read more

This week we asked readers to help us figure out why now former CIA Director David Petraeus cheated on his wife of 37 years with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

The largest response ironically received 37.6 percent of the vote. It was: “This always happens with men in powerful positions. Think Bill Clinton, John Edwards and that idiot Gary Condit, who slept with an intern who was then murdered.”

Next up with 23 percent: “Broadwell’s a hottie and Petraeus got lucky. It’s as simple as that.” Rolling in at 2.5 percent was this response: “His affair clearly stems from a post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in Iraq.”

It’s always startling when people in high-profile positions engage in risky behavior. It’s an age old question, especially in Washington: Why mess around when they have so much to lose?

When the news broke Friday that now-former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus had been having an extramarital affair, it was no less shocking. He’s a man respected by both Democrats and Republicans. It was even rumored earlier this year that he might be GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney‘s V.P. choice. Despite having national admiration, Petraeus gave it up when he confessed that he’d been cheating on his wife of 38 years Holly with his biographer Paula Broadwell.

So what drove Petraeus to stray? Answer our Fish Poll below. We’ll post the results tomorrow.

Following a report of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) stiffing a couple Dominican prostitutes, it was only appropriate to ask D.C. media professionals: “Have you ever paid for sex?”

The overwhelming majority (71.72 percent) of respondents in our non-scientific Fish Poll said “No, I get it for free.” Tied for the second most-selected answer at 10.1 percent were “Define ‘sex’” and “No, though I’ve thought about it– twice.”

Coming in third with 7.07 percent was “Yes and I probably will again.” The answer with the least amount of votes (1.01 percent) was “Yes, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

In the spring there were reports of Secret Service agents retaining prostitutes in Colombia. Now Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has his own pay-for-sex scandal playing out, according to The Daily Caller. In both cases, the prostitutes were allegedly stiffed (meaning they weren’t paid).

Assuming the reports are true, it’s a little odd the customers wouldn’t pay up. U.S. senators and Secret Service agents aren’t exactly living at the bottom of the economic food chain.  Many journalists, however, are. And if Washington really is what everyone says — Hollywood for ugly people — paying for sex might be a necessity.

That brings us to a Fish Poll. Have you ever paid for sex? Answer in the poll below. We’ll post the results tomorrow.

For those who had power on Monday night, it was some great TV. Dramatic waves crashing into NYC. Winds toppling a crane that perched dangerously over the city. Idiot anchors flailing around in the hurricane. Who did it better? Now’s your chance to vote in today’s Fish Poll.