Combine the 24-hour news cycle with unprecedented competitive pressures and shrinking newroom staffs and what do you get?

You get MSNBC's David Shuster naming a fictitious source for all the recent high-profile Sarah-Palin-is-an-ignorant-diva stories and then interviewing real political campaign strategists about the revelation.

Shuster aired the report based on an entry found on a blog that, according to the New York Times, was created by Hollywood writers to pitch a TV show.

Now both Shuster's report and the Times' reporting about the hoax have become grist for the hoaxer's blog. This TV show is getting plenty of free pre-publicity.