Jeff Goldblum has been making a string of appearances on “The Colbert Report” over the past few weeks, but last night was by far his best work. For starters, the Internet and Twitter declared him dead last Thursday.
And here’s that stunning footage of a real Australian morning show reporting Goldblum’s death that Colbert used in his bit. Note that they had time to assemble a b-roll montage before going on air with this.
Colbert funny. Major media falling for this stuff, not so much.
Journalism, because of its fear of extinction, has talked itself into this idea that it’s OK to publish first, verify later. Giving up the two things that have value: trust and credibility.
Actually, I think Jackson’s death was a pretty good example of major media holding the line: They got a lot of guff for being an hour behind TMZ to confirm his death, but imagine if they’d hopped on board that report and been wrong? Then they used their intact authority to delve deep into the story in followups.
I’ll give you MJ coverage, butI think the Iran coverage proves my point better:
“Many mainstream media sources, which have in the past been critical of the undifferentiated sources of information on the Web, had little choice but to throw open their doors in this case.
Right. And CNN.com just got popped for doing an exceptionally crappy job at that. http://bit.ly/wf2GM But in general I don’t see how you can fault big media for relying on less than sterling sourcing when they can’t get in to do the job themselves.
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Jeff Goldblum has been making a string of appearances on “The Colbert Report” over the past few weeks, but last night was by far his best work. For starters, the Internet and Twitter declared him dead last Thursday.
Comments
Colbert funny. Major media falling for this stuff, not so much.
Journalism, because of its fear of extinction, has talked itself into this idea that it’s OK to publish first, verify later. Giving up the two things that have value: trust and credibility.
Posted by Edward Barrera at June 30th, 2009 at 6:17 amActually, I think Jackson’s death was a pretty good example of major media holding the line: They got a lot of guff for being an hour behind TMZ to confirm his death, but imagine if they’d hopped on board that report and been wrong? Then they used their intact authority to delve deep into the story in followups.
Posted by Peter Kafka at June 30th, 2009 at 9:39 amI’ll give you MJ coverage, butI think the Iran coverage proves my point better:
“Many mainstream media sources, which have in the past been critical of the undifferentiated sources of information on the Web, had little choice but to throw open their doors in this case.
http://is.gd/1jrwO
Posted by Edward Barrera at June 30th, 2009 at 2:11 pmRight. And CNN.com just got popped for doing an exceptionally crappy job at that. http://bit.ly/wf2GM But in general I don’t see how you can fault big media for relying on less than sterling sourcing when they can’t get in to do the job themselves.
Posted by Peter Kafka at June 30th, 2009 at 2:46 pmI’m not blaming them for doing, if they do it carefully.
I certainly believe social media can be wrapped around trusted news sources, but the news org needs to be the credible gatekeeper.
Posted by Edward Barrera at June 30th, 2009 at 3:27 pm