The Big Ass Spanish Boat?

Mike sent this apology and retraction from The Daily Evergreen, the student newspaper at Wazoo. What's interesting is this is another example of cribbing information from a web site without evaluating the site first. Somehow the reporter believed that "Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza" translated into English as "The Big Ass Spanish Boat" (it really means "Our Lady of Good Hope"; what, no one speaks Spanish on the editorial staff??)

The web site that published the article from which this was cribbed, PinoyLife.com, has already responded to TDE's embarrassing error, with a funny, chronological explanation of the gritty details.

Two stories from The Onion recently have been reprinted or reported in daily newspapers, including one in Bejing. If the media can't distinguish between authentic and bogus web sites, then what can we expect from students? My answer: better than that! There really are simple rules to consider when evaluating a web site.