551222 Fri Aug 22 15:56:59 -0700 2008 16 33 Food Media and News 0 3979436 Fake restaurant busts Spectator awards http://community.winepressnw.com/node/953 From that site: The wine blogosphere has lit up today with the story about someone who created a fake restaurant in Italy, complete with a fake Web site and fake wine list (containing low-scoring wines from the Wine Spectator). This person then entered Wine Spectator's restaurant awards contest and won an award. So apparently all it takes to win a Wine Spectator restaurant award is a fake Web site and $250. Check out the blog of the person who pulled this over on Spectator. Be sure to read the Spectator reviews of the wines this researcher put on the bogus list. It appears Spectator has removed the bogus award from its database, but you can see a screen cap of the award. The effect this could have on Wine Spectator's credibility is far reaching, as many have already have written about. It hit the national evening TV news tonight. How does this make you feel? Fri Aug 22 15:57:09 -0700 2008 165021 Firegoat 1 3979513 I just heard this on ABC World News Tonight. While I'm not an oenophile, I was REALLY surprised to hear that they (WS) hadn't even attempted to visit the "restaurant"! One thing that wasn't mentioned on the ABC piece was that the wines were low-scoring on WS's list - even more embarrassing for WS. Fri Aug 22 16:30:13 -0700 2008 3979436 10532 LindaWhit 2 3979527 Lots of discussion on the Wine Board about it: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/550392 "This person then entered Wine Spectator's restaurant awards contest and won an award." It's not really a contest - my sense is more that WS, for a fee, reviews the wine list of the restaurant, as submitted by the restaurant, and determines whether it is "worth" of the "award. It doesn't really bother me that they didn't visit the restaurant, etc. Fri Aug 22 16:38:02 -0700 2008 3979513 10985 MMRuth 3 3979929 It's not really a contest - my sense is more that WS, for a fee, reviews the wine list of the restaurant, as submitted by the restaurant, and determines whether it is "worth" of the "award. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, but they don't even visit the restaurant to see whether the list of wines submitted is actually in their wine cellar or not? Still doesn't make sense to me - if they're giving out an award for the "best of" or whatever it is, shouldn't they verify before awarding? I agree with Firegoat - their credibility kinda goes down the tubes. It means they can be bought. Fri Aug 22 20:05:03 -0700 2008 3979527 10532 LindaWhit 4 3979947 How would a magazine be expected to have a budget big enough to visit every restaurant that applies? Fri Aug 22 20:20:17 -0700 2008 3979929 144892 Dan G 5 3980334 How does any newspaper, magazine, guidebook, etc. etc. afford any similar sort of reviewing/rating system they set up? If you talk the talk, you'd better walk the walk. I agree with LindaWhit. Assuming even that they can't afford to send someone to visit every place, how about employing, uh, a fact-checker? Am I missing something? Sat Aug 23 06:00:30 -0700 2008 3979947 11106 tatamagouche 5 3980437 Point taken, but all the 'winners' or 'recipients' or whatever you want to call them ponied up $250 for a shot and that adds up quick. Considering that the majority of them are in major metropolitan areas, how hard would it be to have stringers go and review places for $50 a shot, with the magazine keeping the extra $200? Sat Aug 23 07:28:42 -0700 2008 3979947 14869 atom12 5 3980444 Wine Spectator has a HUGE advertising budget. The magazine's subscription cost is $50/year. So if Food & Wine, Gourmet, Saveur, et al, can visit restaurants to determine if they're the best of the best for their annual awards, why can't Wine Spectator, an international publication? As atom12 said - the "winners" PAID to be considered. If 500 restaurants worldwide paid $250 each to be considered, that's $125,000. Are you telling me that out of that $125,000, they can't find the budget to send someone in that immediate area (they are, again, an international publication) to check out the wine cellar and whether or not the place actually exists? Baloney. This was, pure and simple, a money-making effort without any factual checking on WS's part. And they got caught. Good on the writer. Sat Aug 23 07:36:58 -0700 2008 3979947 10532 LindaWhit 3 3980640 The discussion on the wine board mentions that the hoaxer might have done this to write a book. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/550392#3973543 Another poster said in that link ... This fake restaurant had a website, fake reviews posted on the net, and a working phone number with voice mail. He went through a lot of trouble to perpetuate this hoax. It certainly doesn't look like it was just for the fun of it or $250 but self-promoton. As others have said the media and blogs have been buzzing about this. Linking to the hoaxers blog provide links to Amazon links to other books he has written. Whatever one might think of awards and Wine Spectors reliability, this seems to fall under fraud in order to profit and everyone touched by this should sue his ass off and, IMO, he should be charged with fraud. At first I thought this might reflect on how easy it is to spread misinformation using the web. But it is not really that. Even the best of the media has been fooled, the most recent thought that comes to mind is the guy with the phony book that Oprah promoted through her show and bookclub. Not saying Oprah is or isn't the best of them. There are tons of examples where the media has been duped long before the web was used as another tool. It is not just a web thing. We all know the shakey reliability of awards. That isn't news. Even media reviews aren't that reliable. Local Bay Area papers posted gushing reviews of the opening of a new ice cream joint a while ago. While the place existed, for various reasons the opening was months away. What should be the news is the dishonesty of this little weasel who did this. In the wine thread it is mentioned that he posted a review on Chowhound.. On the hoaxers blog he mentions his Chowhound review which he opines is one of the sources that Wine Spectator used to verify the status of this restaurant. The posts were removed by the moderators when they were notified by another Chowhound. Not quick enough though to show up in one of the news articles on AOL this morning which links to the cached version. http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2008/08/21/fruity-and-ostentatious-yet-highly-fictitious-online-restauran/?icid=200100125x1208250093x1200445781 Who knows how many other sites he posted his fake reviews. This was carefully pre-planned. Again, rather than the scrutiny being on Wine Spectator, the real smoking bullet to me is the motivation of the hoaxer behind all this. Sat Aug 23 09:16:23 -0700 2008 3979527 10264 rworange 4 3980747 Well, that plot twist is interesting, I grant you. But the fact that lack of journalistic integrity might be widespread doesn't make it any less upsetting. Indeed, I disagree that the unreliability of awards isn't news—this tidbit obviously comes a surprise to a lot of people. Not sure how much more cynicism this world can take on before it implodes! Sat Aug 23 10:24:12 -0700 2008 3980640 11106 tatamagouche 4 3981008 I respectfully disagree. If a magazine gains respect and readership and prestige from having a certain "award" system. one such that restaurants would be proud of, hang on the wall or advertise with, that respected restaurants vie for..... And then it is disclosed that it is a sham. I think it is newsworthy. I am a small business owner, like many restaurants. And extra $250 to send in to "compete" for an award... and then to find out later it is a sham. That they don't even bother to see if it is a real restaurant. Frankly if anyone is going to sue it should be all of the untold numbers of restaurants who sent in $250 to be listed in something that is now worth nothing. I don't care what his purpose was. investigative journalists do things like this all the time. He found a sacred cow that is just leaking milk to those who pay up. Good for him. Sat Aug 23 12:55:51 -0700 2008 3980640 165021 Firegoat 5 3981039 I'm not sure that it's not the inverse, though, in this case - that the respect and prestige of WS allowed it to be in a position to "give" out these awards. Sat Aug 23 13:09:40 -0700 2008 3981008 10985 MMRuth 6 3981195 Hey, if they say, pay $250 for a listing in our magazine. Fine with me. That's accepting advertising. If it is pay $250 for the honor to compete to win a prize, and then they don't even make sure the "competitors" exist.... well.... Sat Aug 23 14:30:50 -0700 2008 3981039 165021 Firegoat 6 3981208 Which makes it even work - they have earned the respect and prestige to allow it to give the "awards" out - only for those awards to be shown as something that can be bought. It's no better and no more valid than a university degree that can be bought online. It completely invalidates the respect previously given to them. Sat Aug 23 14:39:41 -0700 2008 3981039 10532 LindaWhit 7 3981217 I have to wonder at the people defending Wine Spectator on this issue..... If instead someone investigated and found that Michelin stars were awarded just on payola, without going and inspecting, (who knows, maybe they are. i don't THINK so, ....) but it is a similar thing. An institution that you trust can just be paid off. It is sad. Sat Aug 23 14:47:40 -0700 2008 3981208 165021 Firegoat 8 3981335 Didn't grow up in the 70's, eh? Never heard "question authority?" I wouldn't be surprised in the least to hear something similar to Michelan. Yes, they do visit the restaurants, AFAIK, still ... who knows what influences those opinons. The best you can do is hook onto forums similar to this one and get to know what posters have tastes similar to yours and go with that ... vox populi. I'll mention stuff like awards and Michelan stars in posts for restaurants I like because it matters to some who do have starts in their eyes. Sat Aug 23 15:50:37 -0700 2008 3981217 10264 rworange 1 3986932 I've pretty much ignored Wine Spectator awards since reading this article from July 2003 in the New York Times http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905E4D9153DF93AA35754C0A9659C8B63&scp=1&sq=hesser%20and%20wine%20spectator%20and%20matthews&st=cse&scp=2&sq=%22amanda%20hesser%22%20+%22wine%20spectator%22&st=cse Hasn't been all that hard for me since I don't drink wine anyway. Part of the problem is that the public who see a restaurant advertising that it has received a Wine Spectator award don't have even a basic understanding of the magazine's purported methods of evaluation. Mon Aug 25 20:55:01 -0700 2008 3979436 48389 racer x