THE NEWS MEDIA ONLY REPORTS THE FACTS-AND ANYTHING ELSE ANYONE WILL TELL THEM

No matter how much you may trust a particular news source, remember that they can always be wrong, and given enough time, they probably will be at one point or another. The news media gets its information from its own reporters, wire services, and anyone who faxes them what appears to be an interesting story. Slip some misleading information to the news media through any of these routes, and the media may not have the time to verify the facts and will simply report the information as "news" in the interest of higher ratings.

One self-proclaimed artist, Joey Skaggs (http://www.joeyskaggs.com), has turned misinformation into an art form, using the media itself as his canvas to demonstrate the media's unfailing gullibility to broadcast "news" without verifying the credibility of the source. Joey Skaggs has appeared on the television show Good Morning America and on CNN, as well as appearing in print in The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Washington Post for such outrageous "news," such as a vitamin pill made from cockroaches, a brothel for dogs, and an artificially intelligent computer program that could examine court evidence and spit out a verdict (it found O.J. Simpson guilty, by the way).

So the next time you form an opinion from something you've read, seen, or heard from your favorite trusted news source, it could be the truth, it could be partial information lacking crucial facts, or it could just be another media hoax perpetrated by someone like Joey Skaggs. Whatever the case, the odds are good that it won't be the whole truth, so read the news carefully and be aware that no matter how strongly you may hold an opinion, you could always be completely wrong.