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Tiger Woods Incident: With News Coming at Us at the Speed of the Internet, How Do We Figure Out What’s True and What’s Not?

Nov 30, 2009  •  Post A Comment

In a must-read thoughtful piece that appeared in the Miami Herald on Sunday, Dan Le Batard writes that we’ve been bombarded by so many different "facts" about what happened to Tiger Woods the other day that clearly some of it is true and some of it is false.

Le Batard writes, "We get news faster than we ever have. We just can’t trust it to be right. So patience, credibility and fairness are among the casualties here, too, at the intersection of celebrity and scandal — where voyeuristic rubbernecking is fun and nobody feels the need to tap the brakes, and the result is an international icon bleeding on the street while surrounded by more questions than answers."

Here’s his conclusion: "The news travels so fast that it is out there before it can be verified and before the participants have even uttered a public word, and the more credible news outlets are forced to follow the flocks toward TMZ and the Enquirer or be left behind.

"And here’s why that’s relevant:

"What if it isn’t true?

"How do we go back and fix that?

"And isn’t that kind of accident ultimately more damaging than the one involving Tiger Woods?"

–Chuck Ross

7 Comments

  1. Why are we so quick to give credence to negative media stories? Our society has become one that feeds off the misfortune of others. Would this even be a story if the average “Joe Blow” had been in the accident and not Tiger Woods?
    Enough already!

  2. As Tiger expresses remorse
    For taking his Caddy off course,
    Now he’s stuck in a lie
    Cause his actions imply
    That Buick’s no brand to endorse.
    News Short n’ Sweet by JFD8
    http://twitter.com/JFD8

  3. Do “news” organizations want to be first, or right? You can’t be both. So make your decicion and stick with it. Report confirmed, double-checked FACTS, or report rumors and conjecture. If you choose the latter, don’t get upset when your credibility goes into the toilet.

  4. Lack of credibility due to false reporting does not seem to harm or slow TMZ at all. Our growing appetite for slime is the real concern here, and at some point there will be a heavy societal price to pay.

  5. A-men! News organizations need to jettison the “scoop” mentality since the internet has made it IMPOSSIBLE for them to be first. Unless they are doing investigative pieces, there is no exclusivity, so they should instead strive to be unimpeachably correct. Integrity is invaluable.

  6. What happened is Tiger Woods’s business and no one elses.

  7. Baloney “it’s nobodys business but his”. He knocked over a hydrant and smashed into a tree..WHY? The police have a right to know and by keeping quiet, he has allowed the scandal sheets to have a ball with the way THEY see things…all the way from his wife after him with a 7 iron (correct club, by the way) to his trying to get away from her wrath. Hiding out and giving no interviews is not going to help his case. He best better own up to what happened and swiftly ! It aint a gonna go away!

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