AMERICANS WILL HAPPILY HELP JOURNALISTS VIOLATE ETHICS

LOS ANGELES (Wireless Flash) -- Americans not only believe in freedom of the press, but many are happily willing to help the media fake sources for a story. That's what journalist Rodger Jacobs discovered when he pulled a media prank by placing a classified ad on craigslist.com, explaining he was a reporter who fudged a story about buying fake I.D.s and needed someone willing to "pretend to be Paco," a phony street source quoted in thestory. Jacobs posted the ad on Saturday (Jun. 26) and he received more than 35 inquiries before it was taken down onSunday night. Some of the potential Pacos include one voiceover actor who touted his radio commercials for Papa John's pizza and another who claimed he actually sold fake I.D.s for a living. The plug on the prank was pulled Sunday night (Jun. 27), when a reporter contacted Jacobs about the ad. As he puts it, "She had faith no real journalist would actually do this." That might sound like good news to some, but Jacobs is still "disappointed" that so many regular citizens had "no qualms about helping a journalist violate their ethics."