Fact-Checking The New York Observer's Media Power Bachelors List

New York Observer

The New York Observer, a publication which really enjoys a good media power list here and there, has a new one out today. It's "The Free Agent List: 2011's 50 Most Eligible Media Bachelors." Look, there's poor Brian Stelter on the front, kissing a black hole where his girlfriend used to be. Fifty strapping young (or not very young at all) media guys, just ripe for the taking, ladies. Julia Allison is studying the list carefully. Except some of them are not ripe for the taking, because some of them are not single. Oops. After the jump, the mistakes that we managed to find.

• CNN's Don Lemon has a boyfriend. He's been in a relationship with the guy, who is a CNN producer, for four years. (h/t Maureen)
• Isn't it pretty well-known, or at least "known," that Anderson Cooper is most likely dating club owner Ben Maisani? Coop might not be out or anything, but the two have been spotted together at parties by Michael Musto as recently as January. Also in January, Page Six stopped referring to Maisani as Cooper's friend, instead terming him a "companion." We're not sure what their relationship status is at this moment, but we haven't heard anything about a breakup.

• Swashbuckling combat photographer Tyler Hicks is also not single. A source told us that Hicks is in a relationship with "a hot young photojournalist also based in Istanbul," and they might even be living together in Hicks' apartment.
• Ben Cohen, of the Wall Street Journal, doesn't actually know how to dougie.
• The Observer's Nate Freeman does not "make Batman look like a feeble shut-in." That's a physical impossibility, experts say.
  

At first, we surmised that the Observer doesn't contact people before putting them in these slideshows. It's got to be a lot easier to populate a list like this with unknowing subjects. But according to one singleton on the list who didn't want to be named, they did email him (although he says he never really consented). He had nothing to say except, "Forever Alone."

Either way, the only mistakes we could pin down were those listed above. If you think of more, do let us know in the comments.

[rgray@villagevoice.com] [@_rosiegray]

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