Save NPR/PBS -- again

In A Web Hoax, Transformed, the NY Times' Amy Harmon looks at MoveOn's petition to save NPR and PBS, which is not a hoax, as Urbanlegends attests.

Amazon pulls phony McCain 'review'

Amazon.com, in response to an inquiry from The National Debate, has removed a phony editorial review of an anti-Kerry book, Unfit for Command, posted on the Amazon.com web site. The review, attributed to Sen. John McCain, read:

Editorial Review

"Dishonest and dishonorable... none of these individuals served on the boat (Kerry) commanded."

Patty Smith of Amazon.com Media Relations explained that Amazon allows publishers to submit content via a Online Publishers Review Form to Amazon.com including Editorial Reviews. That information is reviewed before appearing on the Amazon.com web site. In this case, someone at Amazon failed to properly review the source of the Online Publishers Review Form.

"Someone used the publishers submission form," Smith said, "a 'bad actor' who used the system in a way that they should not have." Smith said the form was reviewed but not reviewed properly.

The Editorial Review attributed to Sen. McCain no longer appears on the Amazon.com web site.

This is the second instance of manipulation of an Unfit for Command web page on a leading bookseller web site in the past 24 hours. The Barnes & Noble web site displayed a doctored bookcover image which has since been removed, according to Robert Cox, managing editor of TheNationalDebate.com.