This story's generating lots of buzz online:

Ground Zero Mosque On The Move?

It's by veteran NYC reporter Marcia Kramer. It appears on the local CBS affiliate's website and boy, it sure tries to connect some invisible dots [emphasis added]:

There was a possible resolution in the works in the debate surrounding the proposed mosque and Islamic cultural center near ground zero.

CBS 2′s Marcia Kramer has learned it looks as if the developers of the mosque may be willing to budge and move away from the Park 51 location where they originally planned the construction.

So will the mosque be moving?

New York Gov. David Paterson plans to meet with developers of the controversial Ground Zero mosque as early as this week to offer them state land – at another location – for their cultural and religious center. Paterson told Congressman Peter King about the meeting, and King said the governor asked him to make it public.

So, the governor wants to meet with backers of the proposed Islamic center, and from that Kramer concludes the center may be moved. Slight problem -- there's nothing in the article to support the newsy claim.

Nothing.

Kramer includes no comment, on or off the record, from anyone associated with the mosque project. Instead she tries to divine meaning from an innocuous tweet:

But there was a glimmer of hope that they are open to a compromise.

A Tuesday tweet from the Park51 Twitter account said:

“For the past week, we have focused on trying to respond to attacks and detractors of our project. What's become clear is – they won't listen.”

In the next 140 character post, they added:

“Starting today, we're going to begin addressing questions regarding park51. We're open to any sensible discussion.”

What that has to do with the possibility of moving the mosque perhaps only Kramer knows. And in fact, the article fails to note that yesterday the developer of the proposed downtown mosque appeared on local NYC TV and specifically denied there were plans to move the mosque.

Will backers of the mosque agree to move the project? It's certainly possible. But that doesn't mean journalists should run around writing those stories, and claiming non-existent facts, based on little more than an interview with a GOP Congressman who opposes the project.

UPDATED: Here's how the WSJ treated the exact same story:

New York Democratic Gov. David Paterson is again trying to broker a deal with the developers of an Islamic community center and mosque near Ground Zero to move it elsewhere – but there's little indication that he will have any more luck than the last time he tried.