A newspaper staff’s worst nightmare has come true for the Daily Egyptian, Southern Illinois University’s student newspaper.

The paper last week acknowledged that it had been the victim of an elaborate hoax.

In the Egyptian’s admission of fault, the staff wrote, “Over nearly two years, the Daily Egyptian told the story of a precocious little girl whose mother was dead and whose father was fighting in Iraq.”

After the Egyptian staff was told the girl’s father, Dan Kennings, had been killed in action, the Chicago Tribune went to Carbondale to learn more about the Kennings.

Instead the Tribune learned Dan Kennings did not exist. Neither did his daughter, Kodee Kennings. The Egyptian had been tricked.

First off, the Egyptian should be commended for admitting its fault. Journalists strive for perfection, but when we screw up the public should know about it, and know about it as soon as possible.

In our Wednesday staff editorial we stressed the need for the media to be open and honest when it commits a mistake.

With that being said this situation could have been easily avoided if the paper’s editors had done their job to begin with and verified Kodee Kennings’ story.

The whole thing reeks of being too good to be true.

A simple call to the Department of Defense or to Fort Campbell, Ky., where Dan Kennings was supposed to have been based, would have exposed the hoax.

Instead, the Egyptian’s staff ignored or chose not to follow one of the cardinal rules of journalism – double check and verify everything.

Jaimie Reynolds, who as part of the hoax played Kodee’s guardian, is the only person to have admitted to taking part in the hoax. She accused Michael Brenner, a former Egyptian editor in chief, of taking part in the hoax to further his journalism career.

Brenner denies any wrongdoing, but Reynolds should be condemned for trivializing soldiers who actually served in Iraq and died in battle there.

There are not many worse things than using someone else’s pain and personal anguish for your own enjoyment and satisfaction.

All this reminds the Northern Star that we are committed to providing you with a newspaper that is high in quality, distinguished, and most importantly factually correct.

Agree? Disagree? Contact us at www.northernstar.info