So apparently the hot exclusive – way out of their normal beat – story yesterday on RadarOnline about Chief Justice John Roberts retiring came from a law prof trying to make a point. Kashmir Hill at True/Slant reports:
We found out from a few first-year students at the Georgetown University Law Center that a criminal law professor had taught them a lesson that morning on the validity of informants not explaining their sources. Professor Peter Tague started the class by saying that he knew John Roberts would soon be retiring for health reasons, but that he could not tell his students who had told him this. Thanks to our living in the wired age, at least one student texted, g-chatted, or emailed someone outside of the class. Somehow that news made its way to someone at Radar, who jumped on the story.
Midway through the class, Professor Tague revealed that the Roberts information was not true. That he was teaching them a lesson! I’m not sure what he intended to accomplish exactly, but I doubt he wanted it to spread like wildfire through the blogosphere. Still, teaching lesson FAIL.
That’s just embarrassing dude.
Previously on FBLA: