WaPo Columnist Mike Wise Gets One Month Suspension For Twitter Hoax
Washington Post sports columnist Mike Wise is being suspended for one month for yesterday’s hoax tweet about Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger.
ProFootballTalk writer Mike Florio heard Wise on his daily radio show this morning, reading a statement that said he “made a horrendous mistake,” and that it “cost me a chunk of [my] own credibility.” He also said that the Post had placed him on a one-month suspension.
Wise yesterday tweeted that suspended football player Roethlisberger would be out for five games, adding “I’m told” to the end of his tweet. An hour later, a message went out saying that his source was a casino employee. Wise’s goal was apparently to prove that people will print anything without checking their sources.
The stunt “cost Wise all of his credibility, as far as we’re concerned,” says Florio. “Even though he surely will never pull another stunt like this, it’s fair to wonder whether other motivations, apart from providing true, accurate information, will undermine any of his future journalistic endeavors.”
Side note: The Post’s own social media policy, obtained by Deadspin, appears to prohibit making up fake news.
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