Shame on You, Los Angeles Times!

The Feb. 26 article by Elizabeth Snead, entitled "Is David Beckham Living with George Clooney? Hmmm," has all the hallmarks of a juicy tabloid - homosexuality, jealousy, nepotism. Par for the course for the Times' celebrity blog. Except that none of it appears to be true, or at least it cannot be verified.

Ironic for the Times, which has long prided itself on getting the facts straight, if not first. More ironic, even, when one considers that Clooney's dad, Nick, was once a former newsman.

The article, which focuses on the younger Clooney's decision to lease his mansion to Beckham while Beckham plays stateside with his team, the LA Galaxy, is full of innuendo. "Clooney and Beckham became bros," Snead writes. "After being introduced by mutual designer Georgio Armani at the Met Ball in New York last year--that night also happened to be Clooney's last date . . . with Sara Larson."

The problem, Ms. Snead, is that none of that is true. A simple Google search turns up absolutely no evidence of Clooney and Beck's rumored relationship. Not even a whisper. Even that scourge of academics and editors, Wikipedia, confirmed nothing of the sort on Clooney's bio page. E! Online said it best with, "Sorry ladies, as awesome as it sounds that soccer star David Beckham is shacking up with George Clooney . . . it simply isn't true."

Repeat after me. A few lines of hearsay do not an article make. A few lines of hearsay do not an article make. Granted, celebrity gossip sites are held to a different standard than mainstream newspapers like the L.A. Times. But this is the Times, people. Not TMZ, not even E! The Los Angeles Times.

The only thing more infuriating than the article itself is the lack of outrage. Not at the story itself, but Snead's, and ergo the Times, have a complete lack of journalistic standards in this instance. In an age of budget cuts and amid rumors of bankruptcy, it is unfortunate that the paper of record would sully itself rushing head over heels to report such a nonexistent story. Perhaps Ms. Snead, and the rest of the staff at the paper, would do well to retake journalism classes and relearn the basics. Either that, or leave the celebrity news to professionals, like Perez Hilton.