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Washington Post Retracts Story about Utility Hack
Washington Post Retracts Story about Utility Hack
Jan 3, 2016
by Margarita Fournier; Copyright 2016 by Competitive Assets, LLC. All rights reserved
On the last day of 2016, The Washington Post posted a story suggesting that hackers from Russia had tried to penetrate a Vermont utility. The ominous-sounding headline was picked up by other publications and widely disseminated – except that it was not true. The paper later attached an editor’s note, stating that “[a]n earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far. The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid.” The entire episode illustrates the importance of scrupulous fact-checking when writing stories for publication and also of taking great care before accusing someone of hacking
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