Phoenix Paper Prints Story Based on Fake Blog Post

The NBA All-Star game is being held in Phoenix, Arizona this weekend. With thousands of basketball fans descending on the city, if you were the editor of an alternative paper in the area, wouldn’t you run a cover story about the sport? Of course you would.

That’s exactly what the Phoenix New Times News did with its story on NBA players and the tattoos that love them. In it, reporter Niki D’Andrea mentions a FoxSports.com report that claimed the NBA was pursuing a so-called “tattoo cap.” Among the quotes was one from league commissioner David Stern, who said, “We feel it is important that our players not scare the bejesus out of affluent demographic groups with gangsta-style tattoos.”

If that sounds a little like something out of The Onion, that’s because it basically is. AlanaG.com pointed out that the original story on the tattoo cap came from a satirical post by a writer named Con Chapman. FoxSports.com picked up the post, but anyone with any modicum of knowledge about the NBA (or anything, for that matter) probably should have known Stern would never say such a thing.

You really can’t believe anything you read on the Internet these days.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.