a99kitten's Musings

So let’s see, how many news organizations/journalists touched this story without apparently checking any facts? And yet the facts were clearly there to be dug up.

Sports Illustrated
ESPN
South Bend Tribune
Fox Sports
New York Times
NY Post
CBS
Associated Press
Los Angeles Times

I’m pretty sure all of the above (except maybe the South Bend Tribune?) have WAY more resources than Deadspin. But there are almost no real reporters nowadays. There are just a bunch of jerks who sit around trying to beat the rest to the fastest tweet or FB update or the blingiest link bait. It’s entertainment now, not news. Have you looked at what passes as news stories nowadays? Too much time/space to fill up and eyeballs to try and catch. Who has time for silly things like fact checking or investigating what you are putting out there as fact.

There was tons of false data during “Superstorm” Sandy. Tons and tons during the Sandy Hook shooting. And those are just 2 recent examples. I’m sure there are plenty more on a regular, daily basis that doesn’t make such a splash.

I’ve never even heard of this guy and, frankly, don’t really care since besides making himself look foolish, I don’t know what real harm came from it. But I love when reporters are shown to be idiots I believe most are.

I have no idea if the above represents all of the “news” agencies who wrote about this. I simply read the Deadspin article and copied down the news agencies. But I’m not a reporter. And have never claimed to be. So I have an excuse to limit my fact checking to simply reading someone else’s report.