Our Media is out of control

Perhaps I’m a little Grumpy this morning. DSC_0843

Well in truth I’m usually grumpy in the morning. I’ll eventually become human at some point during the day.

In recent history we’ve seen major news organizations take what they’ve read online for granted. Then without vetting the information, or checking any ancillary sources they’ve published as true and correct, completely fictitious stories.

The most recent example of this are the blog posts supposedly from a “Gay Girl in Syria” These posts garnered a lot of media attention. Mainstream and local, news outlets were taken in.

All anyone had to do was check the originating IP addresses on the blog posts or the emails supposedly coming from this poor girl. And the hoax would have been immediately apparent. Eventually someone technologically savvy did precisely that, discovering that the emails originated from an American in Edinburgh.

Faster communication doesn’t necessarily mean better communication.

What someone writes on a blog isn’t necessarily true. ANY Idiot can write a blog, (I’m an Idiot and you’re reading my blog) when did blogs, which are essentially the personal opinions of the writers become valid news sources? At best blogs should be treated as editorial pieces and at worst ignored completely.

Our media need to return to being Journalists instead of talking heads looking for the most salacious, sensational bits of information or misinformation they can find.

They need to actually investigate their stories, and they need to stop relying on purely online resources for their research.

There was something called Journalistic responsibility once, perhaps it’s time to make that concept a priority again.

Just THIS Village idiots opinion…