Editors at gossip website TMZ thought they had a great scoop yesterday — an "exclusive" photo "that could have changed history." The shot purported to show John F. Kennedy on a yacht with several naked women in 1956, years before his presidential election, while his wife was delivering a stillborn child at home. The only problem: the photo is from a 1967 Playboy spread, four years after Kennedy's assassination, and features only paid models. How badly does the high-profile mistake damage TMZ's status as reliable news source?
TMZ moved too fast on this one: TMZ is "one of the most enjoyable, well-written and best reported celebrity news/gossip sites," says Joe Gandelman in The Moderate Voice, but it fell into the classic too-good-to-be-true "scoop" trap with the JFK-naked women photo. The lesson for the various media clamoring for readers/viewers? If you're offered a history-changing scoop, "take a deep breath and check and recheck."
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