TWO REPORTERS

When they taught you the history of these intrepid explorers, was it pretty much a lie?

David K. Shipler & Daniel Zwerdling

When you learned about the American explorers who claimed to discover the North Pole, the answer seems to be, "Yes." In fact, the fabled drama of Robert E. Peary and Frederick Cook was an early example of how powerful newspapers - in this case The New York Times and New York Herald - spread fake news (although critics still debate whether the newspaper owners knew it was fake or didn't bother to corroborate the explorers' stories). Journalist Darrell Hartman tells us life and death tales from his recent book, Battle of Ink and Ice, that shed light on the perils of vanity and competition for fame and profit.