Ex-ABC Newsman Put Byline On Bogus Obama Article

[babylonsister]

Consultant Probed in Bogus Interview
Former ABC Consultant Says He Was 'Scammed' in Piece on Obama

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 13, 2007; Page C07

A former consultant to ABC's investigative unit admitted yesterday that he put his name on a purported interview with Barack Obama that he never conducted.

Alexis Debat, a former French defense official who now works at the Nixon Center, published the interview in the French magazine Politique Internationale. He said he had hired a freelance journalist to conduct the interview, in which the Democratic presidential candidate supposedly said that Iraq was "already a defeat for America" that has "wasted thousands of lives." Debat said he had been unable to locate the intermediary, and the Obama campaign says no such interview took place.

"I was scammed," Debat said. "I was very, very stupid. I made a huge mistake in signing that article and not checking his credentials."

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/12/AR2007091202333.html