LA Times story on subprime lenders has issue

The Los Angeles Times had a story recently about how the problems with subprime lenders has affecting homeowners where the source for the lead anecdote may not have been entirely honest with the business reporter, reports Mark Lacter from the LA Observed web site.

Lacter wrote that the woman in the lead anecdote is a person who bought and sold homes to her husband and pocketed the profits.

Lacter stated, “OK, so there’s been a ton of Web reaction to the LAT story, none of it flattering. Now if indeed the paper has been snookered, most all reporters could feel the pain. You’re on deadline, your editor has told you to come up with ‘real people’ to illustrate a bone-dry business story and along comes Ms. Perfect. And then, boom! Or at least that’s what I’m presuming.

“I’ve tried to contact the Times since yesterday afternoon, with little success. Annette Haddad, one of the writers, didn’t respond to my e-mail. Business Editor Davan Maharaj told me he’d look into it, but I haven’t heard back. Judging from the comments on the post, they’re being inundated with e-mails on ShaRon. Anyway, here’s the post (with comments) and here’s the LAT story.”

Read more here. This is a great example of the need to do a quick public records search on people business reporters use in their stories.