[CM30]

Good read. Definitely shows how little work is often put into investigating a story nowadays, even from publications considered reputable in the past.

And it's worth considering given how many controversial stories that lead to internet mobs and threats had just as little work done on the investigation side as this one. The covington kids story had no real investigation done on it, since if someone had actually asked witnesses or looked into video evidence beyond the original tweet, they'd have seen a completely different series of events. Same with the story of that guy thrown off a plane for speaking Arabic; a bit of research would have proven the story was not what it seemed there either.

And there are plenty of stories where non existent people/companies/organisations have been written about after a troll submitted a fake news tip or what not. Hell, it's surprisingly easy to get a questionable story into the media, since often no one will investigate it properly. I know, I did that by accident.

As for why that's the case? Eh, probably time. The internet has led to a 24/7 news cycle for every publication in the world, and has created a situation where being 'first' is often seen as more important than being right. Even sparing the 10 minutes necessary to investigate a story like in the article is presumably seen as a 'waste of time'.

Either way, good article.