2 years ago
There are questions about the authenticity of the story that actress Nicole Kidman made a plea to try to save Buffalo's Studio Arena theater.
A story on a website quoted the Australian-born actress as saying she was urging other actors to give Studio Arena a contribution to offset multi-million dollars of debt. The story was titled, "Mirror Exclusive: Nicole Kidman Asks Help For Failing Buffalo Theater" and the byline of the story was listed as Tom Robbins, Entertainment Reporter, in London. 2 On Your Side contact the London Mirror, a newspaper there. A woman who answered the phone in the newsroom said there was no entertainment reporter named Tom Robbins employed at the Mirror.
The story appeared to come from a website called "pr-inside.com." At the bottom of the story was contact information for Mirror Entertainment, with an address of 10 Times Square in New York City. We could not find a listing for Mirror Entertainment in 10 Times Square. 2 On Your Side called the numbers listed as contact information. One was to a publishing company in New York City who had no idea what the story was about; the other phone number listed was for a grocery store in Texas.
There's also a disclaimer at the bottom of the website article. It reads "if you have any questions regarding information in these press releases please contact the company added in the press release... Pr Inside disclaims contents contained in this release."
Around 3:00 Monday afternoon the article was removed.
In an email, Nicole Kidman's publicist told us the actress did not arrive in London until today. The article said she had taken a break from rehearsals. Her publicist also wrote rehearsals have not started yet and while she is still looking into it wrote "we don't think this is genuine".
"We haven't talked to Nicole Kidman, I'm not sure if it's actually true or if its not, but I have to emphasize the meat of what she says is true," says Ian Campbell, from Studio Arena Theater.
Studio Arena needs to raise $200 thousand dollars this fall to keep the doors open and has a big event planned for this September 19th.
Kristin Donnelly asks, "Did somebody from Studio Arena put this out there?" Campbell answers, "Absolutely not- no one from Studio Arena Theater put that out there." Regardless of who put the story out there on the internet Buffalo State Professor Annemarie Franczyk says it should not have run without reporters doing some basic checking.
"Clearly just because it appears on a website doesn't make it true," she says.
Franczyk, who teaches a media and ethics class, says there were clues that this was not the most reputable website.
"I think in the pressure to be first some basic news gathering skills go by the wayside," she adds.
