I like my ability to be able to write about things and have it available to others to read. I believe that privilege comes with a responsibility to write truthfully and sometimes carefully to be sure you properly represent facts and not just conjecture. I read something today that dealt with gossip about Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani breaking up. It’s common these days to start out with something shocking and usually false and follow it up with the truth in the article. What’s the purpose? Sell magazines or subscriptions of course. In this case it seems that while other rumors had Blake proposing to her on “The Voice” he was merely trying to quell that rumor and say that they were going slower. It makes me crazy that anyone with a computer can just throw lies out there for whatever reason. I see it all the time and it creates a lot of confusion. There seems to be a lot of competition out there for stories to report and it creates a lot more sloppy journalism and sometimes just blatant misreporting. This is another example of the negative effects of such a media connected world. News outlets are now in competition with essentially everyone who can report, and it just gets out of control. I have seen a lot more of stories changing over time as facts become known. They have to get something out there or get left behind, so they report what they know or think they know and fix it later. Very Sloppy and irresponsible.
13,570 thoughts on “Fake news”