Barely journalism
Jamie Malanowski eviscerates a bogus trend story about recession strippers in yesterday's New York Post. Of the supposed "scores" of New York women who once held six-figure jobs and who have now turned to pole dancing, the paper identifies three. The cover model, it turns out, was not recently fired from Morgan Stanley, as the piece claims. She left on her own some years ago to do PR then acting and finally stripping. And she's writing a book about it. The second one was supposedly a real estate broker but has no Google trail. The third was a pastry chef. "One of those nubile, twenty-something, six figure-earning pastry chefs that were all over town before the crash, no doubt. I'd very much like to see the Post produce the other 38."
Comments
This was a meme making the rounds of talk radio last week, with hosts soliciting female callers to tell about their descent from legitimate jobs to more obvious whoredom-based initiatives during the "financial crisis." Out-of-work actors claiming their day job is their profession are a very convenient source for all kinds of disinformation.
Posted by: J.D. | March 30, 2009 5:04 PM
Maybe it will be like that Washington Post story years ago about an 8 year old heroin addict. When the NY Post wins a Pulitzer for this story and people demand to know how they can help these desperate women, the paper will forced to admit it was all a fabrication. Wouldn't there be some red faces at the Post then?
Posted by: al in la | March 31, 2009 1:07 AM
and isn't pole-dancing more honorable than financial advising these days? At least you know what you are getting for your money.
Posted by: jake | March 31, 2009 12:22 PM