My 2 Cents: Associated Press Hoodwinked By Fake GE Press Release

Kelly Ogle, News 9

The media's been hoodwinked again. Did you hear about it?

The Associated Press received a news release that appeared to be from the corporate giant General Electric.

It was an e-mail with the GE logo, and a link to a website designed to look like GE's website.

The story, based on the press release, said GE would give back to the government a $3.2 billion dollar tax refund because the corporation was being criticized over the amount of taxes it pays.

AP published the story, and sent it out on the wire to thousands of media outlets. Thirty-five minutes later they discovered they'd been had.

The press release was a fake, and they hadn't thoroughly verified it's authenticity.

Two activist groups trying to expose what they consider unfair corporate tax policies duped the AP.

I hope GE and the AP sue their socks off, and the Associated Press and all media outlets should take this as a warning.

Don't trust anything sent through e-mail or off of websites unless you verify them independently with the actual source.

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