Breaking News and Your Credibility

With the use of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media devices news travels at an astounding rate. Getting the story out in the newspaper the next day is considered a snails pace comparatively. With the race to beat the clock journalists have been facing the problem of releasing misinformation.

For example, in late July a journalists tweet was released stating Pierce Morgan had been suspended by CNN.

Clearly this was false, but the false information was published because the journalist didn't act responsibly and wanted to get the breaking story out.

This release of misinformation tarnished the image of this particular journalist. I bet that viewers will find it difficult to trust news from this source from now on.

In order to prevent these occurrences a website was founded called RegretTheError.com which focuses mainly on educating journalists to be responsible news sources. In addition to information on their website RegretTheError.com hosts conventions to inform journalists of how to avoid certain mistakes.

It's risky to be a minute to minute reporter. One can never be 100 percent sure if their information is true. Just because Joe the plumber spewed the information off doesn't necessarily make it credible.

Thats why it is important to make one extra phone call or email to fact check before releasing the news to the masses. To be a successful journalist when it comes to prompt reporting be responsible.

Being the first to Tweet the most interesting breaking news can be an exciting thrill, but make sure the facts are accurate. If not, all credibility could be lost.

Photo courtesy of Photo Bucket.