Politico’s inaccurate blog post spreads fast

Cory Bergman March 23rd, 2007

Yesterday at 11:06 am ET, just 54 minutes before John Edwards’ scheduled announcement, The Politico’s Ben Smith posted an item on a blog on the site that a source had told him that Edwards would be pulling out of the campaign. Within minutes, CNN, NBC News, MSNBC.com and CBSNews.com cited the report, according to the AP. Of course, at noon John Edwards said he was staying in the campaign despite the resurgence of his wife’s cancer. Smith later retracted the report and apologized, but I imagine the media won’t be quoting The Politico on any major stories without independent confirmation anytime soon. It’s also a little frightening that a simple, single-sourced blog post can spread to millions of people via credible news sources within minutes.

Adds anonymous in comments: “Reporters (at least used to) trust the Politico more than your average blog because it’s run by former newspaper reporters. Smith used to work at the Observer and Daily News in NY. I’m not convinced he wouldn’t have posted the same thing at those papers’ sites had he still worked there. The issue isn’t “blog post” vs “credible news sources,” it’s the other part you mentioned — that one reporter used an anonymous single source and that a bunch of other reporters quoted it without independent verification. What the hell?”

Adds Cory: “Right, I’m not inferring that blogs aren’t credible, but a blog post on a brand new site is way down the credibility scale in the public’s eyes compared to NBC News and CNN. By citing the report, the media made the story much more credible.”

11 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Anonymous  |  March 23rd, 2007 at 8:48 am

    Reporters (at least used to) trust the Politico more than your average blog because it’s run by former newspaper reporters. Smith used to work at the Observer and Daily News in NY. I’m not convinced he wouldn’t have posted the same thing at those papers’ sites had he still worked there. The issue isn’t “blog post” vs “credible news sources,” it’s the other part you mentioned — that one reporter used an anonymous single source and that a bunch of other reporters quoted it without independent verification. What the hell?

  • 2. Cory  |  March 23rd, 2007 at 8:56 am

    Right, I’m not inferring that blogs aren’t credible, but a blog post on a brand new site is way down the credibility scale in the public’s eyes compared to NBC News and CNN. By citing the report, the media made the story much more credible.

  • 3. Mark Moulding  |  March 23rd, 2007 at 9:16 am

    I’d agree with both of the above. For me, the real story here isn’t “Politico gets it wrong” (although it clearly did) - but rather “national networks make someone else’s mistake their own”. It’s like libel law - if you repeat someone else’s libellous comments, you’re just as liable as they are.

  • 4. bbbustard  |  March 23rd, 2007 at 10:23 am

    Even sloppier _ Rush Limbaugh suggested that the Edwards campaign deliberately planted bad info, and Politico has said nothing to respond to such sleaze.

  • 5. invitedmedia  |  March 23rd, 2007 at 10:33 am

    and even worse, it was only a few weeks ago that hungry teenage terrorists were going to take out a major eastcoast city.

    did the mainstream media apologize for that?

    sago?

    will they never learn???

  • 6. Anonymous  |  March 23rd, 2007 at 12:06 pm

    I think I’d put Limbaugh below The Politico on the credibility index…

  • 7. Curt  |  March 24th, 2007 at 9:23 am

    “one reporter used an anonymous single source and that a bunch of other reporters quoted it without independent verification. What the hell?”

    It’s how journalism is all too often practiced these days. I think a combination of getting the “win” by breaking a story first and the overwhelming influence of shareholders on a publication’s (or network’s) m.o. Fewer writers taking less time to do more stories = higher profits, at least in the short run. I can’t count the number of single source stories I’ve seen written and published, especially, though not solely, at smaller papers in large chains.

  • 8. Efstathios  |  January 13th, 2008 at 12:25 am

    Nice!

  • 9. Sergios  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 1:13 am

    Nice

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