shane fitzgerald

shane fitzgerald
DUBLIN (AP) -- It was a Wiki-challenge that some journalists failed.

An Irish university student decided to test how easily news can be fabricated in the 24-hour cycle. He posted a fake quote on Wikipedia, attributed to Maurice Jarre , hours after the French composer's death March 28. The quote read, in part: "When I die there will be a final waltz playing in my head that only I can hear."

Dozens of U.S. blogs and newspaper Web sites snapped up the lyrical phrase and included it in their obituaries for the composer. Administrators for the online reference source, meanwhile, twice caught the quote's lack of attribution and removed it.

Shane Fitzgerald says he's convinced if he hadn't come forward "that quote would have gone down in history as something Maurice Jarre said."