Intern Fired from Wall Street Journal for Creating Fake Sources and Quotes
BlackBlueDog.com Staff
One aspiring journalist will have to find a new career path.
The Wall Street Journal recently fired a summer intern for using fake sources in a story.
Liane Membis was tasked with a seemingly routine story called titled “Bridging A Local Divide.” But when Membis couldn’t or wouldn’t find sources, she fabricated numerous names and quotes that editors could not verify.
Membis attributes quotes to people including Katrina Maple, 64; Saniqua Dimson, 17; Shaila Tompkins, 26; Carolyn Turner, 31; and Jonqueil Stevens, 40.
The Wall Street Journal released the following statement on the incident:
Note to Readers: ”Bridging a Local Divide,” published online on June 17, has been removed from the Journal’s web sites. Many of the names contained in the article about the re-opening of the 103rd Street Pedestrian Bridge in Manhattan were fabricated by reporting intern Liane Membis, and the quotes couldn’t be independently verified. Ms. Membis is no longer working at The Wall Street Journal.
Membis was with the WSJ for three weeks and had contributed to about five stories. One of the stories has ben removed entirely and quotes supplied by the intern have been removed from online versions of other stories. Her work has also appeared on CNN.com, the Huffington Post and in Ebony Magazine.
Membis is a Yale graduate with a B.A. in English and Ethnicity, Race & Migration.
33 Responses to Intern Fired from Wall Street Journal for Creating Fake Sources and Quotes
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This is so sad. I hope Membis finds God and receives some help!
Lets find out her side of the story first lets not jump to conclusions we need to hear the sista side!
I think she needs to find a work ethic.
She wanted to be a journalist but couldn’t hold to one of the basic tenets of the profession. Speaking as some one who gave almost 30 years of his life to the craft,journalism has enough problems with credibility these days we don’t need another shoddy wannabe journalist in the profession.
Rather stupid child spend all that money to go to a good school and to lazy to follow procedures; and now faced with the issue of not being able to work because of her own laziness. This will be a lesson she will never forget so let’s move forward and wish her the best….
Makes you wonder what she did to get that fancy degree. Probably cheated her way into that as well. Good riddance.
So sorry to read of her attempts to achieve what she thought was required. I certainly want to read her side of the story and hope this does teach her a valuable lesson however does not deter her from pursuing her goals. Contributing to so many stories on different publications does indicate she has the skills to do the work.
I would like to know who proofs the articles that appear on this site. The grammar and typo’s are sad. If you are going to be credible you must write in a credible fashion. Makes no sense. And since this is connected to Mr. Watkins who constantly reminds of his scholarly achievements, it would seem to me that grammatical integrity would be very important.
Agreed I was thinking the same thing.
She’s not alone. The white ones do it too. The difference is that most of the times the white interns’ stories go uncheck simply because of, well, they’re white.
Of course! And if they find it they get chance after chance….
I think that is a racist generalization. Who can you cite as an example?
Agree Gee…after a while u get tired of some expressions. Give examples. A female got fired from a great news source because of fabrication and lying…she got fired for that…not because of color…pulleeezzzeee !!!!
Renee; can you document that statement? If not why would you make it?
I just rewatched Shattered Glass a couple weeks ago about the disgraced New Republic reporter, Stephen Glass, who fabricated stories, locations, quotes, sources, etc. He was a fascinating personality who could turn a tale, but eventually was caught. This young intern was apparently no match to his skills as he got away with it for quite some time. And then there was Janet Cooke who won a Pulitzer for her made-up stories back in the early 80′s. Ms. Membis may not have considered it, but since it sounds like she can turn a tale with the best of them, perhaps she should consider becoming a novelist instead of a journalist.
hahahahhaaha
Becoming a novelist is relatively easy. Selling a novel is extremely hard. Most of the writers who receive a regular paycheck are journalists. She screwed up. I hope she learned her lesson.
We must claim our own nationality and report on it because when we try to continue with the European lies we are just joining up with the enemy and continuing their work to hide our history and further their erroneous belief system already in place. Those of us that have graduated from their school system have gotten better at explaining why and how we jump through social limited hoops with articulation.
We need to go easy on her because she must have the skill inorder for her to get the job in the first place. I am looking for a part-time writer for my new business and I will be willing to hire her if she is looking for new employment.
John it is great of you to offer her an opportunity, PLEASE do not use this situation to EXPLOIT her.Real talk…
Erica, I don’t know who she is and I am not seeking her out. I know as a black businessman we look for talent were ever we can find them. So if she can help promote my business so be it. Know if she was caught stealing money from her former company, then I will not give her a second thought.
John wow! You would trust someone to write for you who has shown herself to write dishonestly and with very little integrity. That really makes a strong statement about you.
In this country the white man system will lock a black man up for life if he is caught jay walking. So what she made a mistake. She must have had great skill inorder for her to get that job in the first place. So I my heart we ask God to forgive us, so why can I not forgive her for what she did or did not do and move on.
No matter where she goes in life, she will be compared to Janet Cooke and she will never eat lunch in this (journalism) town again. To toss away her credibility for what ever reason is tantamount to professional suicide. Very sad,indeed.
Give her strength to restore her credibility and recover her name.
You blacks are a rather childish lot. Always, Always ALWAYS blaming whitey for your shortcomings (even though they can be attributed to differences in morphology, and the fact that you as a species are some 150 thousand years less evolved than non-Africans).
See: Dr. Samuel Morton’s “Crania Americana”.
It would be entertaining if it wasn’t so *ucking obnoxious.
Funny that none of you pointed out the obvious parallels with Jason Blair here.
The following information is for the benefit of all 92 ignorant racist including YOU; British writer Johann Hari, James Mackay, South African Marks Chabedi, Stephen Ambrose, Alan Dershowitz and mathematician Danut Marcu are all white ‘Caucasians’ accused and ultimately proven guilty of plagiarism- Bytch.
I am not a racist but. I strongly feel that Europe is a worthless continent whose inhabitants are living off stolen money from other countries. Do you know that the Europeans came to know about mathematical formulas and theorems only after ancient African and Hindu texts were translated into latin??? Some of the major discoveries and inventions in history currently attributed to the British and the Greeks were known to ancient sages from Africa and India at least 2000 years before. Let me give you an example: Most people in western countries believe that Isaac Newton discovered gravity, when the fact is that an Ancient Indian scientist by the name of Brahmagupta discovered and articulated the concept of gravity thousands of years before Newton was even born! The theorem that relates the three sides of a right angled triangle(now called Pythagorean theorem) was presented in the Sulba Sutra, the dates of which are given variously as between the 8th century BC and the 2nd century BC, contains a list of Pythagorean triples discovered algebraically, a statement of the Pythagorean theorem, and a geometrical proof of the Pythagorean theorem for an isosceles right triangle. The Apastamba Sulba Sutra (circa 600 BC) contains a numerical proof of the general Pythagorean theorem, using an area computation. Van der Waerden believes that “it was certainly based on earlier traditions”. According to Albert Bŭrk, this is the original proof of the theorem; he further theorizes that Pythagoras visited Arakonam, India, and copied it. Boyer (1991) thinks the elements found in the Śulba-sũtram may be of Mesopotamian derivation
Almost every mathematical, astronomical, philosophical and scientific contribution currently attributed to the Greek Empire was known to the Great civilization of Africa and India at least 2000 years before the Greeks ever existed.
Throughout history, Africa and India was the centre of human civilization and the wealthiest nations on the planet! From the beginning of time up until the seventeenth century, Africa and India was the cynosure of all eyes – whether it was wealth or culture, there was only two places on the planet that had it all and that was Africa and India. They were the top countries in the world at that time. It is just a matter of time ontil they go back to the prime position they occupied throughout most of human history
Sounds like the movie: Street Smart with Morgan Freeman and Cristopher Reeves…!
This is so sad, she just blackballed herself in the journalistic community, she may have to start writing fiction under a pseudonym…
Young bright girl who did a stupid thing..Everone diserves a second chance. If you can give the likes of Chris Brown,R.Kelly,Bill Clinton, countless men of God who act worse than common gang bangers second and third chances why can’t she have one?????
Not that I condone it; but, if any of the information written about this young lady is true; then, I don’t anticipate that she will have any problem landing employment or income sources. She sounds like quite the slickster, who is capable of moving and shaking things up.
Anybody heard of redemption? d**n she made a h**l of a mistake She was wrong no doubt about it I think if we are going to be a better society then show her , teach her, giving people a chance when they screw up potential and great things many times can happen if we have the capacity to forgive.d**n YOU OLD HEADS ACT IF YOU’VE NEVER F. UP AND SOME OF YOU YOUNG PEOPLE AIMT LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND.keep on living YOU WILL LEARN .LIVE AS BROTHERS OR PERISH AS FOOLS!!!!!!!
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