Misinformation

Students at South High School in Torrance this week mourned Pfc. Joe Anzack, a 20-year-old Army gunner stationed south of Baghdad, after a rumor surfaced that he had been killed in Iraq. On Monday morning, students who knew the South High alumnus cried. Others left messages of sympathy and last respects on his MySpace page. Student government members even posted a message on a sign outside the school that read: "In Loving Memory -- Joe Anzack -- Class of 2005."

Patients facing surgery who try to check out the quality of hospitals beforehand by doing Internet searches often find conflicting and incomplete information posted, according to a study published Monday. The report was based on searches done a year ago on six websites that offer comparisons of hospital quality, said Dr. Michael Leonardi and colleagues at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.

In the spring of 2001, long before Sept. 11 and the American focus on Iraq, the CIA asked its Paris station about rumors that 200 tons of nuclear material had vanished from two French-owned mines in the West African nation of Niger. "We heard stories this stuff had gone to Iraq, or to Syria, or Libya, or China or North Korea. We heard all kinds of stories," said a now-retired CIA officer.

I was at PEN USA's annual Literary Awards Festival a few weeks ago, having a great time, hobnobbing with all sorts of illustrious writers, when I ran into "There Will Be Blood's" writer-director, Paul Thomas Anderson, who was there to accept an award for his film script. A huge fan of his work, I told him how much I'd liked his movie. He nodded and shyly smiled, and I thought he might say something like, "Oh, geez, thanks for the compliment." What he really said was: "In that story you did, you got the budget wrong."

How hot is swine flu traffic on Twitter? A recent survey from Nielsen Online put swine flu at 2% of all Twitter conversations, making it an even bigger topic than British singing star Susan Boyle. But don't believe every tweet. Public health experts say the Internet can be an important source of information on the H1N1 virus, but you need to know who's at the helm. "In the current swine flu situation, some [sources] are alarmist, where others present a more balanced picture of concern," says Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, director of communicable disease control and prevention for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and a professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health.

On the evening of Oct. 14, a young Marine spokesman near Fallouja appeared on CNN and made a dramatic announcement. "Troops crossed the line of departure," 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert declared, using a common military expression signaling the start of a major campaign. "It's going to be a long night." CNN, which had been alerted to expect a major news development, reported that the long-awaited offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Fallouja had begun.

Sony Corp. on Wednesday agreed to pay $1 million in penalties to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it misled investors by failing to disclose how badly its movie division was doing before finally announcing a staggering $3.2-billion loss by the unit in late 1994. Although the fine is relatively small for a company the size of Sony, it marks yet another embarrassing chapter from an era the company would just as soon forget.

For more than a year, Internet messages have raised fears among black Americans that Congress plans to repeal the Voting Rights Act in 2007. One e-mail entitled "The Awakening" declared: "In 2007 Congress will decide whether or not blacks should retain the right to vote. In order for this to be passed, 38 states will have to approve an extension. . . . What many blacks before us fought and even died for as well as the milestones that we, as blacks have achieved, this can be taken away from us .

Whenever rumor-mongering at the DreamWorks studio ramps up to a dangerous level, marketing chief Terry Press huddles her staff to confront the speculation head-on. No, she tells employees, we are not being bought by Studio XYZ. And no, I am not moving to Walt Disney Co. Gossip reminds Press of jungle drums beating relentlessly--if haphazardly. "It is a way to communicate," she says, "but it's very dismissive . . . and disrespectful of people."

Just try to resist that juicy piece of gossip making the rounds at work. Sure, it might not be true, but many of us can't resist passing it along. The best tidbits add spice to an otherwise ordinary day. Unfortunately, indulging in too much gossip is detrimental to your career--being known as the office rumormonger could give your co-workers the impression that you are as indiscreet about the company's business as you are about theirs. There is a positive side to office gossip, though.