Reporter pulls hoax. What was he thinking?
Friday, February 7th, 2003The Islamic terrorist who exchanged emails with a Computerworld reporter for two weeks turned out to be Brian McWilliams, who admits to pretending to be “Abdul Mujahid of Karachi” in emails to writer Dan Verton.
I haven’t been able to get a hold of him, but it looks like Verton didn’t attempt to verify his email contact’s identity by insisting on a phone number in Karachi to call, or finding journalists in the Middle East who could validate Abdul’s existence. Maybe he was eager to scoop an “exclusive” (sic) story. And maybe McWilliams really did just want to test the system, as he says.
Still, what were either of them thinking? This isn’t some obscure code of journalism ethics, it’s Common Sense 101 that no one will believe either of them about anything now. And of course, every story about the issue will be sure to mention that the hoaxer writes for Wired News and Salon, just as I do. Which names will readers remember?
