Reporter sacked for fabricating stories
Property website Domain has sacked a reporter for fabricating sources and quotes and apologised to readers.
Journalist Kate Bartels was first caught out after fabricating quotes from psychologist Dr Sarah Barker and then Domain discovered other incidents of fabricated quotes.
Domain editorial director Adrian Lowe issued the following apology to readers:
“At Domain, we strive to be the trusted voice on property. We have always been proud of our editorial heritage and the standards we set out to meet in each article we publish.
"Unfortunately, we have discovered we did not meet the high standards we expect of ourselves. We owe you an apology.
"We were recently alerted that two lifestyle articles misrepresented someone as a source. When this became clear, we removed these articles and the journalist involved has since left Domain.
"Unfortunately, it soon became clear that this was not an isolated incident and the journalist had in fact misrepresented other people and their professions.
"For this, we are sorry. We have since commenced a full investigation into all of the journalist’s work. We are committed to investigating this matter and setting the record straight.
"I want to express to you, our valued readers, how disappointed we are at this conduct. It goes against everything we value at Domain, and, most importantly, it is a severe breach of the confidence you place in us to bring you trusted and reliable information.
"We hold ourselves to extremely high standards to ensure that you receive the most reliable property information in Australia. We can and will do better.”
Do you find it interesting that the reporter accused of fabricating quotes worked in real estate? Who do you trust more – real estate agents or journalists?
Not all real estate people are bad and same for reporters, but there are always some bad apples for sure.
This woman is obviously suffering from delusion if she thought she wouldn't be found out, must say I have a sneaky suspicion Domain smelt a rat before the story broke. just saying, but turned a blind eye? Hope they don't sue me for saying that.