Uli Schmetzer, a retired bureau chief turned freelancer, set off a scandal at the Tribune when he quoted a fictional person in a story about Australian race relations. Weblogger Tim Blair broke the story, and the Trib promptly fired Schmetzer and began an investigation of all of Schmetzer's stories.

Read Editor Don Wycliff's column about the incident. Schmetzer didn't exactly help his case in a letter to Jim Romenesko (no permalink, you may have to scroll down) in which he alluded to changing sources' names as a matter of practice.