The Cooper Lawrence Effect
We won't go on and on about this because it's pretty simple and can be summed up in one sentence contained in Lawrence's 'mea culpa' to the NYT.
"I had asked somebody about what they had heard..."
That's where we stopped reading because everything else is meaningless after that doozy. There's your journalistic integrity and commitment to professionalism folks. Just ask SOMEBODY about what they heard. From that point on you're golden. Shoot your mouth off endlessly and without bothering to dig into the source of your story. Third hand information is good enough.
