Scandal from Sun-Times Reporters who made things up

From the Chicago Tribune

Fired Sun-Times critic Paige Wiser 'ashamed' for made-up details in review

'Glee Live' review mentioned song not performed

described another she didn't see 

June 10, 2011
By Phil Rosenthal Media

Paige Wiser is out at the Chicago Sun-Times after 17 years, the last three as its television critic, because her "Glee Live!" concert review in Sunday's newspaper mentioned one song that wasn't performed and described another she did not see.

"I'm at fault," Wiser said. "I do understand what a big deal this was. I am ashamed, and it's just a matter of making bad decisions when you're exhausted."

Wiser, 40, said she brought her two young children to the show Friday at Rosemont's Allstate Arena with the approval of an editor who told her "cute kids' reaction would be more than welcome" in the story. Her son fell off a chair during the show. Her daughter vomited into a cotton candy bag.

They left three songs later, only 13 numbers into the concert, but her report included commentary on the encore based on information from previous "Glee Live!" shows.

The Sun-Times on Thursday posted an editor's note about the lapse and Wiser's dismissal, and it withdrew the review from its website.

"Accuracy and honesty in reporting are essential parts of the promise we make to our readers," Don Hayner, the Sun-Times editor, said in the note. "We regret the incident and apologize."

Last month, at the last minute, Wiser had to ask out of a deadline writing assignment covering taping of the "Oprah Winfrey Show" farewell extravaganza at the United Center. Upon arriving in the hockey press box, high above the arena floor, she was afflicted with vertigo. Colleague Kara Spak, who had been assigned to watch from a seat in the stands below, changed places with Wiser and wound up writing the story.

[NOTE: Kara Spak is the wife of Sun-Times reporter Steve Warmbir]

Wiser's published "Glee" review noted that cast member Lea Michele "made Barbra Streisand proud — and probably a little jealous — with 'Don't Rain on My Parade,'" a song Wiser said Thursday that she liked on one of the show's cast albums. The review was capped with a reference to an encore cover of Rebecca Black's "Friday" that Wiser wrote was "irresistible" and "infused ... with joy."

"I'd like to think it wouldn't have been part of my thought process if it hadn't been 1 a.m. and I was just trying to get the story done," Wiser said. "I just wanted it to be a complete review after the Oprah travesty."
The incident recalls an infamous 1986 Sun-Times review of an Elton John concert by Patricia Smith, who reported John wore an outfit he didn't wear and sang two songs he didn't sing. John's representative also said Smith never picked up her press ticket.

Smith told her editors at the time she was distracted during the show by a boyfriend she brought with her and that they had bought their own lawn tickets. She was let off with a lecture and respite from writing for several months, according to a 1998 American Journalism Review report written after Smith lost her job at the Boston Globe for fabrications in her work.

Wiser said that, with the workload employees at the Sun-Times must carry in the wake of recent cutbacks, "for me to have even taken up their time because they had to deal with this, I feel bad."

[NOTE: Another fired reporter was Ray Hanania when he was accused of dating City Treasurer Miriam Santos in 1991 while covering Cook County.]

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