Lots of news outlets covered the story that Carla Bruni, famously scandalous third wife of the French president, had been effectively banned from the Vatican. (CNN, for one.) The story was, as you might have guessed, completely wrong.
It came from a satirical magazine, for one thing. Think of a major newspaper reporting seriously a story from the front page of The Onion. You would begin to wonder how closely their reporters were paying attention. But the story was implausible on its face, and the reporter ought to have questioned it.
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