Another day – another breaking news story on Twitter. …This one was false. However this particular Twitter scoop spread like wildfire – due to the fact that it had been widely Re-tweeted by several credible sources – starting with Jon Snow of Channel 4 news, see link below:
Anatomy of a Twitter rumour: When a story’s too juicy not to re-tweet
Once upon a time Journalists used to have to actually take the time to check and verify a story before going public and ‘putting it out there.’ Now with the advent of the internet and in particular, runaway micro-blogging sites like twitter – it seems that modern journalism largely consists of trawling the internet, catching sight of something before anyone else does and regurgitating it in whatever form, and through whatever medium (usually initially through the internet again) – that you happen to have access to in you’re particular journalistic enclave!
Still, can we really blame the journalists themselves for this sorry state of affairs? The pressure to be the first on record with the latest breaking news must be intense. And what if you don’t take the chance? You hold fire in favour of checking the facts, and some rival organisation beats you to the punch – they suddenly become the trusted source for being first with the latest greatest news scoops.
Aside: (In Google+ convos with various people about the hacking scandal yesterday though – I meant to say that I hope all this ends up taking smugface Morgan down with it too. I’m sure I’m not the only one).
It seems that modern news has found it impossible to keep pace with what the internet has developed into (along with every other industry and all of us as individuals too, it could be said). Still, a little of the old professionalism of checking the facts, needs to find it’s way back into the equation.
Otherwise The Whole Of Modern News, Is In Danger of Becoming Just One Mass Re-Tweet!
Gadgemeister 