george and the mail

It is nice to see The Daily Mail's journalistic standards being held up for global ridicule after their story that Obama was getting regular advice from George Clooney turned out to be complete fiction. From Politico's 'Anatomy of A Smear':

Even an American tabloid reporter was quick to scoff at the British paper’s bogus tale. When told the names of the two Daily Mail writers (Churcher and Caroline Graham) behind the Clooney-Obama article, one U.S. tabloid reporter said they were “not the most reliable” journalists working in the gutter press. Both were widely known for “making things up,” said the tabloid reporter who, ironically, refused to be quoted by name.

I love the sense of bemusement amongst American journalists that their Brit counterparts can be so sloppy...