Users Trusted LA Times Over TMZ

I posted a personal rant the other day about how TMZ broke the news about Michael Jackson’s death way before a lot of the network news outlets did.  One of my blog readers Simon Owens sent me a note that I found interesting today on Facebook, here’s an excerpt from his blog post:

TMZ has received a fair amount of coverage over the last few days for being first to break the news of Michael Jackson’s death, beating both the LA Times and CNN (which waited until the LA Times confirmed the death to report on it). But as a blog post in the LA Times pointed out today, sometimes it’s more important to confirm a fact than be the first to report it.

I will be the first to admit that there is something to be said about credibility and caution when it comes to journalism and reporting.  The thing that I have learned about getting my news via the web or social media (Twitter and Facebook) is that you have to first consider the source.  In the case of Twitter, you can just ask Jeff Goldblum or Britney Spears, who were recently rumored to have died, you have to consider the source.  Before retweeting or sharing anything I hear on Twitter with my friends or co-workers I always run it through Google News to see if there are any other headlines out there from credible sources to substantiate the story.  Usually traditional media will pick up the stories and report them within an hour or so if there is any truth to them, if not I dismiss the story as rumor.

I guess the point that I am trying to make is that I basically get my news from a variety of sources online but usually the first source for breaking news for me is via Twitter, but before it actually becomes factual news in my mind that I am willing to share, I have to also see it being reported by another credible news outlet.

Here’s an excerpt from the LA Times that Simon pointed out on his blog that brings up a good point:

Has technology’s ability to deliver information at such a rapid pace corrupted us? It’s one thing to marvel at how social media sites have helped spread Iranian news we might not have attained due to censorship — and with such timeliness; it’s quite another to have become a culture that prizes speed over confirmed facts.