TMZ.com previously reported that Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps owes the State of California $23,289.16 in back taxes. The article titled Phelps Takes Gold in the 4xForgotToPayHisTaxes, that has since been deleted from TMZ.com, claimed that the proof was in the form of a tax lien, with Michael’s name on it, issued to secure the payment of outstanding taxes.

The news spread like hot gossipy wildfire over the web. I’m embarrassed to say that I even tweeted about one of the articles earlier today (@kastawayblog). TMZ’s success has lifted the celebrity gossip site to the ranks of other reputable news sites – and vice versa, other respectable news sites have been tempted to post gossip in order to increase web traffic. Case in point: TMZ.com is now an affiliate of AOL News.

In any case, the Michael Phelps tax story was syndicated throughout the web. Here is just a sample of the story’s range:

PHELPS HIT WITH TAX BILL – contactmusic.com
Michael Phelps goes Geithner – blogs.dailymail.com
Lien On The Gold: Michael Phelps Needs To Put Down The Bong, Pay Up His Taxes – sosojuicy.com
Michael Phelps owes California $20K in taxes – insidecharmcity.com
Report: Local Olympian Owes Back Taxes – WBAL.com
Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps owes money for back taxes – celebritynewsnow.com

It turns out, there is someone named Michael Phelps in California who does owe back taxes – but it’s not the Olympic swimmer. What actions did TMZ take to correct their error? A two sentence correction was posted by the TMZ Staff and the original article was taken down. Did that stop the barrage of blog reports? Hardly.

If TMZ is to be viewed as a valid (albeit celebrity-centric) news source, then it should be held to the same standards as, say, the entertainment section of CNN – right?

Did TMZ damage Michael Phelps’ image by reporting inaccurate news?

Following the TMZ protocol of fact-checking, I’d also like to report that Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps has written a book on terrorism titled: A Short History of the Long War: The Global Struggle Against Militant Islamism (Paperback) by Michael Phelps