Baby 81 Story a Hoax

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Baby 81 Story a Hoax

James Joyner | Sunday, February 20, 2005

For the New York Times, it was the case of Sri Lanka’s “most celebrated tsunami orphan.” Networks broadcast how “nine” women fought over the baby who survived the island’s worst natural disaster. The unprecedented media attention brought more misery and heartache to a young Tamil couple who survived the December 26 tsunamis, but ended up in jail trying to get back their only son Abilash amid an avalanche of mis-reporting. The infant dubbed “Baby 81″ could have been reunited much earlier if not for the media madness, according to the judge, the police and social service officials involved in the case.

[...]

[B]aby 81’s real burden was having too many journalists of the type of Jason Blair, the New York Times reporter who made up sensational stories and eventually was forced out of his job in 2003. If there is a Pulitzer award for embellishing, exaggerating, and outright lying and misleading in print, the coverage of “Baby 81″ would merit top billing.

District judge, M.P. Moahaidein, on Wednesday (Feb 16) made it clear that there never, repeat never, were nine couples claiming the child as their own and only Junita and Murugpillai Jeyarajah had said they were the parents.

via Paul at Wizbang

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.

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