Such stupidity

I am staggered by the stupidity of John Manukia who invented an interview with Anthony Solomona for the Herald on Sunday. The HOS apology is here and a related story here.

It’s one thing to cut corners and not fully attribute material. It’s even another to do what a NZ Herald staffer did and take material from another interview a subject had given. Still wrong but not guaranteed to be exposed.

But how stupid do you have to be to totally fabricate an interview with a person you have never met, and think he won’t notice it? Maybe if they were some overseas person, but even then.

I can only assume the journalist (who had 15 years experience behind him) was having what one would euphemistically call a non-rational phase.

However, one does wonder if this is a lone incident? Has the HoS audited Mr Manukia’s previous work? They should.