Dolly Parton Dead? Another Reason I'm Not a Journalist

Here's the story:

"Dolly Parton Dead, is it True? Dies of Congestive Heart Failure"
The Post Chronicle - Tittle-Tattle Too™ (August 25, 2008)

• "Reports and rumors are swirling that Hollywood star Dolly Parton has died of Congestive Heart Failure.
• "According to reports, Fox News announced today that Dolly Parton has died of Congestive Heart Failure at the age of 60.
• "Reports are still unconfirmed...."

I ran into that item while scanning online news this morning. The phrase that caught my eye was "...According to reports, Fox News announced today...." That's journalistese for "some guy said he saw on Fox News."

I did a little checking. There was nothing on the Fox News website about Dolly Parton's death. On the other hand, I found these nuggets:

• "2 eagles named by Miley, Billy Ray to be set free"
  FOXNews (July 23, 2008)
  • "PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. — Two 14-week-old American bald eagles named by Disney star Miley Cyrus and her country singer father, Billy Ray Cyrus, will be released into the wild Thursday at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains...."
• "Dolly Parton Threatens to Sue 'Howard Stern' Over Fake Sound Bites"
  FOXNews (May 15, 2008)
  • " Dolly Parton is threatening to sue "The Howard Stern Show" for manipulating recordings from one of her audio books last week into seemingly racist and sexually graphic sound bites...."

I watched Fox News from 11:00 to 11:40 a.m., Central time (That's noon to 12:40 Eastern, 9:00 to 9:40 a.m. Pacific).

Nothing about Dolly Parton's demise. Not in the main coverage, not on the crawl.

Which made me think that Dolly Parton, American cultural icon and part-owner of the Dollywood amusement park, was still alive.

Apart from keeping an eye of the television: that research, and writing this post, took 28 minutes.

I understand that journalists have deadlines, and that thorough research isn't always possible. That's one reason I'm glad I'm my own boss, and not exactly a journalist. I don't have to publish a story with a paraphrase of 'some guy said he saw on Fox News' as my source.

In fairness, some journalists are careful about facts, research their stories, and think: "Dolly Parton Dead? Internet Rumors Run Wild" (Associated Content (August 28, 2008)).

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More about Dolly Parton and Dollywood:

• Dolly's Official Website
• "Anchor worried she 'might throw up' on camera"
  CNN (July 18, 2008)
• "7 tourist traps you love"
  CNN (May 9, 2008)
  (Dollywood is one of them)
• Dollywood
  • "About Dollywood"
    (A fairly detailed history of Dollywood)

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Update (August 25, 2008)

Knoxville, Tennessee, television station WBIR is another place where journalists and editors check facts before publishing - or airing.

"Dolly Parton rep says singer alive and well"
WBIR.com (August 25, 2008)

• "...[Dollywood spokesperson Pete] Owens believes the rumor that Parton died from congestive heart failure may have started Friday night. Apparently, a local high school announced Parton's death during its football game. Owens does not know which high school made the unfortunate mistake...."

Another unknown is why the high school decided to announce Parton's death during a football game.

This isn't the first time this summer that a high school announced something that wasn't true, and got caught.

In May, a California high school told its students that several of their classmates had been killed ("Death Hoax Puts El Camino High School in International News " (June 12, 2008)). The California high school had a perfectly good reason for lying: it wanted to teach the kids a lesson.

Maybe it's okay for educators to lie. But 'your friends are dead' at the beginning of summer, and 'Dolly Parton is dead' at the end of the season, raises an interesting point.

High school students aren't particularly stupid. I could easily understand why some would start wondering whether American high schools are reliable sources of information.

Sure: it's just two instances. Where the school got caught. And made national news.