Debunking NPR's 'Robot journalist out-writes sports reporter'

The alleged story of a software robot writing a better story than a human sports reporter has gone viral. Long story short, it is not true.

Thanks to the blogosphere and Twitter, the inaccurate report is sticking to the backside of journalists like the mange.

A GWSports.com report buried the detail that University of Virginia's Will Roberts pitched a perfect game was indeed written by a human.

After being fed the data during an informal experiment after the fact, the software-bot nailed the no-hitter report in the headline and first paragraph.

So, what is the argument? Technology triumphs, right?  Not exactly.

Matters of Varying Significance comes to the plate taking a swing at the report pointing out important detail that NPR's story completely left out.

The human written story was not written by a reporter, but instead by the George Washington sports information office which in fact said, “We’re in the business to promote our athletes and our team. We’re not claiming to be journalists.”  

By their own acknowledgment, GWSports.com is not in the business to promote the opposing team's no-hitter.

Was the truth getting in the way of a good story? Maybe that software could produce a better story than NPR. The story is a hit online, but its really a foul ball.

NPR did change the headline from ” ‘Robot Journalist’ Out-Writes Human Sports Reporter” to "Big Swing: Robot Sportswriter Outperforms Human," and issued a correction.

"An earlier Web version of this piece indicated that the original baseball story on GWSports.com was written by a sports reporter. It wasn't; that's actually the official website of the George Washington University athletic department," was posted at the top of the story.

The correction has not gone viral.