Wall Street Journal intern Liane Membis fired for fabricating sources

The Wall Street Journal has fired intern Liane Membis for allegedly fabricating sources in a recent report about the re-opening of the 103rd Street Pedestrian Bridge in Manhattan...

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The Wall Street Journal has fired intern Liane Membis for allegedly fabricating sources in a recent report about the re-opening of the 103rd Street Pedestrian Bridge in Manhattan. The Washington Post reports:

Journalism scandal of the day comes out of the Wall Street Journal, which issues an editor’s note about the work of an intern named Liane Membis. Here’s the text:

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.Though the Wall Street Journal has yanked the story from its site, the Internet will not allow it to be unavailable. Though it’s not clear what’s for real and what’s fake, we’ll just excerpt a few of the story’s quotes to provide a feel for how the story framed local reflections on the bridge’s impact:

“Sometimes I just come up on this bridge and stop and look around, right up here on the top,” said Katrina Maple, 64 years old. “It’s calming and relaxing. It feels like we finally got our backyard back.”

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