I'm bewildered by the current state of journalism as exemplified by much of the reporting about the shooter and the family of the shooter. It seems that in almost all breaking news situations with a lot of moving parts that the media is void of integrity and does their job the same way kids play the game "telephone" or "operator"; well that comparison may be offensive to the kids playing the game because with the kids at least the initial comment in the "operator" game is accurate....
Misreporting the shooters name is a big mistake but it sometimes happens, misreporting the shooters name and featuring several different photos of the same wrongfully named individual; there is no justification for that. But in a media world where being first is more important than being accurate AND a completely false story could receive hours of coverage but the retraction of that story receives seconds, maybe minutes of coverage. People are convicted in the public eye long before arrests are made, a trial is held or the voice of the wrongly targeted can be heard.
The media's behavior in this and other breaking news situations is similar to Gladys Kravitz (the neighborhood gossip on Bewitched); well except unlike the media, Gladys' gossip was sourced from multiple friends/neighbors or her own eyes and much more credible.
Think of the countless families who read or heard the original report from the NY Post and the comments attributed to the brother of the shooter. I'd speculate that some of those families may have been hurt or offended by what was nothing more than a fabrication. Think of the brother of the shooter who is again thrust into the spotlight in a major way because of the lack of editorial controls and a vetting process in journalism today.
It is important to note that Sunday is the day of the week with the highest newspaper readership. The New York Post has the 8th largest circulation in the nation and is 8th in number of unique visitors to online newspapers in the world. Additionally, the original story has been (and somehow continues to be) published and reported as fact by every major news outlet, including Associated Press which is the the world's oldest and largest newsgathering organization.
Additionally the New York Post is owned & operated by NewsCorp (who also owns FOX network, FOX News, the Wall Street Journal and many others). I highlight this fact because NewsCorp continues to face scrutiny and lawsuits in Britain for their unethical reporting and news gathering methods including:
Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of publishing stories. I
For more on this, Reuters has a quick guide to the scandal:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/18/us-newscorp-quickguide-idUSTRE76H5SA20110718
I hope that this fabrication being reported as fact and every major news outlet spreading this fabrication as fact at viral news' version of "light speed" without doing their own independent confirmation, getting a second source for identity verification; I hope that this makes all of the other news outlets to review their single-sourced reporting, their six degrees of Kevin Bacon-like jedi mind tricks to connect someone to the shooter or his family as a "friend", and the obvious, blatant lack of an editorial process that allows such things to make it to broadcast or publication. I hope that they will review their own reporting and follow the NY Posts' lead in sharing their misreporting with the public and put controls in place to assure that misreporting doesn't continue.
Sadly, I doubt that will happen... :frown:
