Media: Village Voice Reporter Fabricates For-Profit Story

At least one young Columbia-trained reporter's enthusiasm for covering the for-profit college industry went a bit too far in a recent Village Voice story, where his creations included fabricating the names and quotes of officials from Berkeley College and the GAO, as well as an imaginary college student who's story is central to the article named Tamicka Bourges:  "My parents never made a lot of money, so I was hoping that with a business bachelor's degree, I could go into banking," says Bourges, who describes her high school performance as "OK." She received B's and C's in most of her classes, but performed poorly on the SAT. "Harvard was out of the question," she laughs." But it all blew up in the reporter's face when the college emailed the Voice and said the names were wrong.  (Village Voice Caught in Jayson Blair-Style Fabrication Scandal Gawker).