EDITORIAL: Accuracy more important than speed
Whenever national news breaks, especially tragedy, everybody jumps to be the first to report what happened, and, although it's nice to be the first person with the news, it's critical that the information you're reporting is true.
The profession of journalism prides itself on telling the truth, being precise and striving for accuracy. When any of those values are compromised, the press loses its credibility.
When the Boston Marathon was bombed Monday afternoon, the Internet became a whirlwind of rumors, speculation and poor journalism.
For example, reports spread like wildfire that authorities captured a suspect of Middle-Eastern descent for the bombings. These reports turned out to be completely untrue.
The New York Post went to print a wildly inaccurate death toll of 12, even though the police only ever confirmed three dead. Instead of going off of the official count, they went off of an anonymous "law-enforcement source" to determine their figure. That's fine, until you're proven wrong and forced to retract your report.
Tweets from journalists and news organizations reporting that police had found as many as seven un-detonated bombs also turned out to be false. There is a case to be made here, however, of public officials jumping the gun on information they have received.
We could go on and on. But that's the culture we've cultivated and find ourselves in. People want to know right away, accuracy be damned. They want something to read about, no mater how incomplete or inaccurate it may turn out to be. We need to be fed with information, because, otherwise, we feel left in the dark.
Although the Internet has become an invaluable resource for journalists, there needs to be a line drawn. Rather than use the information citizens post online as fact, news organizations should be using that only to color their stories. Too many news organizations rely on citizens to report what's happening rather than sending somebody to the scene.
When inaccurate information is reported, the credibility of the news source begins to crumble, and the reputation of journalism as a profession begins to come under question.
It's time we do better, because we know better.
