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Reading the news this morning, I come accross this. What an outrage! Not that I realy give a damm about Nicole Kidman, or the original story, but what happend to the news being a reliable source of information, and the rules of Journalisim in gerneral? In hign school, our journalism advisor made things like ethics, and verifiable trusted sources very clear. When did the Buffalo News become a tabloid? I know that papers across the country are hurting, but for pete’s sake, I’m subscribing to the Buffalo News, not the national enquirer!

The article, perhaps the most ethical thing that the News has published in months, goes on to state their sources for the front page article. “The report, posted to the Web site PR-inside.com at 8:20 Saturday night” since when did a tabloid become a reliable source? WOW!. “Catherine Olim, Kidman’s publicist, told The News she found the story highly suspect” - Hrmm, now that’s a email that you probably should have made before going to press…  “The report, which circulated to several online gossip sites and was later picked up by local television stations and this newspaper, is attributed to an organization called Mirror Entertainment (America), the existence of which could not be verified through Web searches.” — But mom everyone else lied to their audience too! So what if the souce was completly anonymous, and had no founding at all.

“The site, PR-inside.com, describes itself as a “website for the free submission of public relations distribution, news and press releases.” After signing up for the service, anyone with an e-mail address can submit and publish a news article or press release, which is posted to the site without apparent editorial oversight.” — No kidding, that’s why the Buffalo News has editorial staff.

I have no way to express how much this annoys me, so I guess I’ll stop here.  But please Buffalo News, will you start acting like a newspaper, and cut the tabloid crap?