Albom-itis Spreads to Boston?

By: E&P Staff First it was the Detroit Free Press, and other papers, running Mitch Albom's now infamous NCAA column placing two players at a game they did not attend--due to the writer turning in the column before the event took place. Albom is now being probed.

Now, on Friday, comes this Editor's Note from the "For the Record" column in the Boston Globe:

"An article by a freelance writer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Wednesday's Globe said that the season's hunt for baby seals off Newfoundland had begun the previous day. In fact, the hunt did not begin that day; it was delayed by bad weather, and is scheduled to begin today, weather permitting. The article included details of the day's hunt as if it had taken place and without attribution or other sourcing, as if the writer had witnessed the scene personally. Details included the number of hunters, a description of the scene, and the approximate age of the cubs. The author's failure to accurately report the status of the hunt and her fabrication of details at the scene are clear violations of the Globe's journalistic standards. Because the freelancer was not reporting from the scene, Globe editors should have demanded attribution for any details she provided about the hunt itself. The story should not have been published in the Globe, and the Globe has discontinued use of the freelancer."