Media hoax artist Joey Skaggs has gotten reporters to fall for fake stories including a cemetery amusement park, a robbery at a celebrity sperm bank, and a canine brothel. (Skaggs called it a "cathouse for dogs.") Skaggs says his success at hoodwinking journalists shows how little effort they put into checking their facts. "They are the status quo with capped teeth and hair spray," he says. "They are the puppet presenters of misinformation, propaganda, lies, deceit and commercialism.

Tobacco, booze and restaurant industry lobbyist Rick Berman is sending around a news release crowing about being included in this year's list of "star rainmakers" in Hill magazine, a publication for Washington insiders "aimed at the 100 senators, 435 House members, 40,000 aides and tens of thousands in the influence industry whose work affects the lives of all Americans." Berman has also received two "pollie" awards from the American Association for Polit

U.S. news media are overwhelmingly biased in favor of genetically modified (GM) crops, according to a survey of major newspapers and weekly newsmagazines conducted by Food First. "A search was made to find all opinion pieces over a two-year periodofrom September 1999 through August 2001," reports Nick Parker.