April Fools, Fools, and Reporters

Much to do has been made lately over bloggers, their ethics (or lack thereof), and the fact that they (we) are essentially unedited.

I guess it's a good thing that Boston Globe reporter John Powers checks his sources, and has editors and stuff, because otherwise he'd run something like this in his Olympic Notes column:

The dope on UCI

Yes, the Dick Pound who may take over as president of the international cycling federation is the same Dick Pound who heads the World Anti-Doping Agency. Seems that Pound and UCI chief Hein Verbruggen had a heated encounter inside the Los Angeles airport after the world championships over Pound's longstanding criticism of the federation's foot-dragging on doping. Verbruggen reportedly called Pound a windbag and challenged him to do better. Pound, who says that the number of doping cases in cycling last year was "pathetic," agreed and is likely to be named president as of the end of June.

Oh, wait a minute...

Behold the April-Fool's-Joke-Turned-News meme of 2005.

UPDATE: Here's a screen capture, lest history be re-written: