Categories: OLD Media Moves

Clues to determine fake news releases

Hal Morris, writing on his GrumpyEditor.com site, notes that there were clues in the fake General Electric Co. news release that should have been noticed before the Associated Press and Dow Jones ran stories.

Morris writes, “In analyzing a copy of the fake, yet official-looking news release, Grumpy Editor sees how editors could be gullible. It carries the GE logo at the top along with the company’s ‘imagination at work’ line, similar to what appears on GE’s Web site.

“But Grumpy Editor notices several clues that should have raised eyebrows.

1 — Nowhere in the six-paragraph news release is the issuer identified by its full corporate name, General Electric Co. From the headline at the top to the contact at the bottom, it’s simply GE all the way.

2 — Press contact is listed as being in the 615 area code. That happens to be the area code in Tennessee that covers Nashville and surrounding areas, not Fairfield, Conn., the dateline on the news release.

3 — Fairfield, Conn. area code is 203.

4 — The release’s press contact carries the title, GE Corporate, Assistant Director. Three key GE corporate contacts do not show such a title on the company’s Web site.”