UPDATE: CNN’s post now includes this text:

UPDATE (Friday): A few hours after Palin changed her Twitter account name, she switched it back to @AKGovSarahPalin. @SarahPalinUSA is now a new separate account altogether. CNN e-mailed a Palin representative seeking comment, but has not yet heard back.

So apparently the screenshot was in fact legit, only that the account was later changed back between the time CNN started writing and then published their post.

Want to know why people don’t “trust” the mainstream media? Here’s a classic example pointed out by C.C. Chapman (and he later posted a screenshot). In his CNN article, Eric Huhn writes about how Sarah Palin has changed her Twitter ID from AKGovSarahPalin to SarahPalinUSA and accompanies it with a “screenshot” of the page:

Here’s the problem:

It’s a fake.

Here is Palin’s existing AKGovSarahPalin page, that looks basically like the one pictured:

Here is her (purported) new SarahPalinUSA page:

Oops.

Leaving aside the issue of “Is the SarahPalinUSA page really from Sarah Palin or is from someone else pulling a really good joke right now?”, the larger question is:

Why did CNN feel they needed to alter the screenshot?

I mean… did they seriously think people wouldn’t look?

Bizarre.

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