“On Nov. 4, Anderson Cooper did the country a favor. He expertly deconstructed on his CNN show the bogus rumor that President Obama’s trip to Asia would cost $200 million a day”.
Mark Twain said, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” “But it also showed that there is an antidote to malicious journalism — and that’s good journalism”.
A story circulated around the Web that the Obama’s trip to Asia would cost U.S. taxpayers 200 million a day that would make 2 billions for the entire trip. Anderson Cooper, a host of the CNN show, had “Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, a Republican and Tea Party favorite, on his show and had asked her where exactly Republicans will cut the budget”.
Instead of answering the question she mentioned the story and the next day Cooper claimed “that he felt compelled to trace that story back to its source, since someone had used his show to circulate it.”
He found out that alleged Indian official from the Indian state of Maharashtra wrote it in his article where he estimated the cost of the Obama’s trip. “No proof was given; no follow-up reporting was done.”
In a little while a number of hosts of radio shows and TV programs mentioned the story but nobody checked the facts. “For security reasons, the White House doesn’t comment on logistics of presidential trips, but they have made an exception this time.”
That’s the example how people like to repeat and listen to crazy stories. Same Shahrazad did to the King Shahrayar. Her stories were so entertaining and interesting that even the King listened to her for so long.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/opinion/17friedman.html?scp=6&sq=november%2017%202010&st=cse
