Tag Archives: sources
The moral of this *fake* story is: check
your sources
A story did the rounds earlier this month of a Texan teenager who was convicted of fraud after stealing his father's credit card and using it to buy an X-box and the services of two prostitutes. The source was a UK news site called money.co.uk. The story was posted on news sites all around the world, including here in NZ. Only trouble is, the story was a hoax.
Off the record, for now
Jeff Jarvis has some thoughts on how well 'off the record' can work in our increasingly public world: "The argument for making things off-the-record is that participants will feel freer to talk and to be candid. And that seems to make sense. But at a place like Davos [World Economic Forum], you’re still talking among people who can affect policy, business, brand, media, and careers. And they talk. Just because it’s not in the press or on blogs doesn’t mean such a lapse won’t have an impact.
Treat social networks like any source: with measured skepticism
A few big names got caught out not long ago using quotes from a Facebook profile purported to belong to Benazir Bhutto's son. The profile was a fake, although it turns out her son did have a profile but clearly one which reporters didn't stumble upon.
Posted in Journalism Also tagged attribution, editors, facebook, hoaxes, Social Media Leave a comment
Here’s what I want from news orgs