I'm surprised I haven't seen this diaried already.
slashdot yesterday had a report about composer Maurice Jarre, who died this past March. This quote from him appeared in a number of his obituaries in the MSM:
One could say my life itself has been one long soundtrack. Music was my life, music brought me to life, and music is how I will be remembered long after I leave this life. When I die there will be a final waltz playing in my head, that only I can hear.'
Beautiful, isn't it? Except that Jarre never said it.
Shane Fitzgerald, an undergrad in sociology and economics at University College, Dublin, is responsible for the quote.
Fitzgerald edited the Wikipedia page on Jarre when Jarre died, inserting the quote without a source. It was taken down quickly, but Fitzgerald put it back a few more times, until finally it was left up for more than 24 hours.
Fitzgerald's intent was to show how journalists use the internet as a primary source, and it succeeded in ways he had not imagined. He said he expected blogs to repeat it, but "did not believe major publications would rely on Wikipedia without further checks." Many mainstream media obituaries included the unsourced quote. None noticed until Fitzgerald sent them email and told them of the hoax.
The Irish Times says that the quote remains on many newspaper sites. I couldn't find any that actually still had it -- I suspect many have been quietly scrubbed in the last two days -- but at least The Guardian still mentions that it was taken in and had to amend its site.
Fitzgerald tells his story in yesterday's Irish Times. This is the money quote:
If I could so easily falsify the news across the globe, even to this small extent, then it is unnerving to think about what other false information may be reported in the press.