Media has a blonde moment

You know that “study” that showed blondes were dying out? It was fake. Let’s not blame the media though. Apparently, some news organizations tried to confirm it, but the organization that was cited as the source of the study didn’t bother trying to help.

ABC spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said that “a London producer called the WHO, which didn’t turn him off to the story, unfortunately.” The WHO official simply offered to check it out but “didn’t knock it down,” said Schneider, adding that “Good Morning America” will air a correction.

A CNN statement said it carried the report “from one of its highly reputable international broadcast partners,” ITN, and would correct it as many times as the story aired. “CNN regrets the error,” the statement said.

[WHO spokeswoman Rebecca] Harding says the WHO made no attempt to contact the news outlets that went with the bogus report but decided to issue a news release yesterday.

“Honestly, we have better things to spend our time on,” she said.

Seems to me that this damages the World Health Organization’s credibility as much as the media’s.

blondes,ABC,CNN