And You Thought the Tech Blog Echo Chamber was Bad
You see it happen every day: a story breaks on Techmeme, and 30 minutes later, the headline is followed up by tens of "discussion links." Some bloggers weigh in just to get the trackback link, or the link on Techmeme, some because they're generally interested in the news, and some because they think they have something new to add to the conversation. Whatever the reason, though, the effect is the same -- the tech blogosphere becomes an echo chamber, and the more bloggers writing about a story, the more clout it has and the more chance it gets repeated by a mainstream news outlet. In all, though, the effects are mostly innocuous. In the political blogosphere, though, a repeated rumor can carry considerably more significant consequences.
The Observer's John Noughton relates a story of how unsubstantiated rumors have been making their way from political blogs and forums to the mainstream press, and in doing so makes a case for a future of media in which citizen journalism takes a backseat to good old fashioned reporting.
Rumors Gone Wild
Specifically, Noughton cites a rumor that Michelle Obama, wife of US presidential candidate Barack Obama, was caught on video tape hurling a racial epithet about white people. The rumor started on Larry Johnson's No Quarter blog. His source? "Someone in touch with a senior Republican" who knows that a "major McCain backer has a copy of the tape." Later, Johnson says he's learned more about the tape via "five separate sources who have spoken directly with people who have seen the tape."
Despite the clear lack of a credible source, the rumor had serious legs. From friend of a friend of a friend hearsay, to a mention on Fox News as "credible buzz," to Obama being asked about it by a reporter from the well-respectd McClatchy News Service. "So the story whirls around the echo-chamber of the paranoid, right-wing blogosphere, with the odd whisk from Fox News reporters, until it reaches hysteria," says Noughton. And though no tape has surfaced, damage has potentially been done.
Therein, perhaps, lies a danger in putting too much credence in the blogosphere and citizen journalism. At times having untrained eyes on the ground can be invaluable at getting the story reported, and sometimes citizen journos can beat the mainstream press to a breaking story. But when your sources are relying on rumors heard from friends, lending credence to those rumors by mentioning them in the mainstream press is toxic.
We've seen rumors run wild on the tech end have real-world consequences as well. Last May when Engadget erroneously reported that Apple was planning to delay Leopard and the iPhone, the company lost $4 billion in market cap in an afternoon. Even though Engadget quickly updated its headline and story when Apple denied the rumors and said their source (a memo) was a fake, the story was frozen in time on Techmeme and in people's RSS readers with the wrong information.
The Solution
With the rise of Twitter, mobile video blogging, and other tools of citizen journalism, the news cycle is now seconds. With news rolling in non-stop 24 hours per day, the continuous, Twitterized cycle doesn't leave much time for fact checking -- speed matters. But that's not the future that Noughton hopes for.
When rumors published and repeated without checking the facts can have far-reaching consequences -- like influencing voters in a US presidential election, or knocking $4 billion off a company's market cap -- accuracy should count for something. Noughton provides a moral for the tale of the phantom Michelle Obama tape: "If confronted with online rumours, investigate first, report later."
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No suprise. Who really trusts the majority of bloggeres to be accurate or reliable?
Live From Las Vegas
The Masked Millionaire
You're right that news cycles are down to minutes.
And that's not the problem, really.
The problem is that the Techmemes of this world are slower. That news is stale faster and old news doesn't flush fast enough.
But I'm sure that's a problem we can fix soon enough.
Heck, it's technology... not world poverty! Should be easy.
-Alister
Alister Cameron // Blogologist
www.alistercameron.com
I wrote about something like this in January [Problems in Paradise] (and a certain other blog stole it), and your post inspired me to revisit my original opinions [Problems in Paradise II].
I think there's alot more problems with the news/reporting/blogging on the 'net than the echo chamber, it has to do with *how* the news surfaces (Digg, Mixx, etc.) and the gaming that's typically involved in making someone/something relevant...
--Kyle
Great post - something that resonates strongly with me. This is not just an annoying problem. Access to credibly, truthful and quality news is a cornerstone of democracy. The web is an amazing tool that has put huge power in the hands of ordinary citizens. But with that power comes great responsibility.
I think its time that we focus on news credibility and we should reward journalists or sources that take the time to fact check, to think before publishing, to remember that responsible journalism is more important than sensationalist journalism.
Kudos for this article. It highlights an important problem, and one we are trying to solve every day at my startup. But the mission is a lot bigger than us. We need more journalists like yourself to speak up!
Shafqat (Founder of NewsCred)
Whether the story is on a blog or published in some MSM journal, as readers we should always keep a question about accuracy in our minds. The established mainstream media gurus haven't done us many favors these past 8 years. Besides inaccurate reporting there's the constant lean towards sensationalism. And, of course, the constant choice of negative slant on anything truly important.
Take for example the recent media blitz about the cost of 'fixing' the climate. Headlines everywhere focused on the figure '45 Trillion dollars', implying that the cost was too great. That figure, averaged into 42 years (the length of time covered by the official report) comes out to about 245 million dollars a day. Wow! That's ALMOST as much(70%) as we're spending on the war in Iraq ($343 million/day)!
Where did I find a link to that report, so I could read it for myself and think for myself and come to my own conclusions? Not on a 'mainstream' site. I found it on a blog. Which is why I trust bloggers more than so-called journalists.
Oh, the link to that report: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/npsum/ETP2008SUM.pdf
Just in case you want to read it for yourself. After all, this is a blog.
Fine report other than Noughton's an idiot. The romor did not come swirling from the right, in any other way than Hillary is slightly right of Obama. It came from the Hillary side of things, from No Quarter's Larry Johnson and is still pursued there.
Most right-leaning bloggers have publicly disavowed the report until somethign credible appears. Larry is the same guy who 'knew' Karl Rove had been indicted.
Makes you worry about the wisdom of the crowd -- doesn't it.
Actually I find the election of George Bush more of a challenge to the wisdom of the crowd than the ability of partisans to lie, cheat and steal.
I think there's alot more problems with the news/reporting/blogging on the 'net than the echo chamber, it has to do with *how* the news surfaces (Digg, Mixx, etc.) and the gaming that's typically involved in making someone/something relevant...
The problem is that the Techmemes of this world are slower. That news is stale faster and old news doesn't flush fast enough.