The Way News Works Now

infinitejess:

1. “Pro-am” content, um, supplier Examiner.com runs a story titled “Britney Spears named number one Gay icon in Southern California.”

2. The Toronto Sun picks it up and runs with it without crediting the source.

3. The Washington Post picks it up and runs with it, crediting the Toronto Sun.

4. A little indie paper called the South Florida Gay News smells a fish, investigates, and finds the Examiner’s article cites a poll credited to an organization that doesn’t exist and a single source … WHO HATES LADY GAGA.

5. No one is surprised by any of the above.

The thing is, this is how news has always worked. Or, to be more precise, this is how badly-done newsgathering has always happened. Editors sometimes cut corners; writers sometimes fudge facts to make a deadline. At Time magazine people used to always tell the story of a certain correspondent in Europe who you could be sure was making the quote up anytime he filed something that was supposedly said to him by a cabdriver. 

In fact, you might make the argument that news works better now, because it’s easier than ever to check facts, and to publicize wrong ones. 

Notes

  1. yourownmadeleine reblogged this from markcoatney
  2. the-mtblog reblogged this from markcoatney and added:
    how misinformation spreads like
  3. markcoatney said: Good point; this is not to excuse bad information, only to say that bad information has always been with us. Good organizations (and I think there are plenty of them) work to minimize mistakes, and acknowledge when they occur.
  4. brianvan reblogged this from markcoatney and added:
    All that considered, why would we let people lie to us about solid facts, for any reason? Because they’re all...
  5. tasnims reblogged this from markcoatney
  6. markcoatney reblogged this from infinitejess and added:
    The thing is, this is how news has always worked. Or, to be more precise, this is how badly-done newsgathering has...
  7. capitalnewyork reblogged this from infinitejess
  8. infinitejess posted this