ABC News has suspended one of its best reporters, Matt Gutman for his inaccurate reporting on the Kobe Bryant death --Gutman has apologized. He wasn't alone in his faulty account of Bryant's death and eight others in LA.
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On social media and other fourth-tier sites, it was reported, inaccurately, that former Laker player, Rick Fox, was on the plane and among the dead.
This isn't the first time something or someone screwed up. It's just that the magnitude of what was erroneously reported, its subject matter, was so monumentally untrue that it is receiving the expected backlash. It is all reasonable and expected given what was put out.
All this fake news reminds us that no one is safe anymore on the false meter. Accidents do happen but the piety of the mainstream press in its lambasting of ABC and Gutman in particular ring a curious cue.
I'm always reminded of the lampooning of blogs and beratement by the chosen press and their own derision of us journalists as unbecoming and not really, "serious journalists"--a mock crack I was the recipient of by this pious person and her false ramblings.
Bloggers get a lot of crap. Much of it is deserved but a lot of it is not. The chosen press (read, mainstream) are just as vulnerable as the MSP when it comes to reporting untruths. I wish all of us got it right, as Cronkite railed many times, but that can't happen anymore. The rush to getting it out, even when it's blatantly false and inaccurate., is mightier than getting it right.
Bloggers are not the only guilty party. Your MSN corner are as culpable. There is hardly any difference anymore. That's a case for a larger discussion but the salad days of so-called, "legit journalism" are long gone.
Don't blame bloggers anymore.
His career at ABC is over like Brian Ross when he got suspended.
ReplyDeleteBrian Ross has a much more problematic history with regards to accuracy.
DeleteIt is a shame about Gutman, likely throwing away a strong career like that. Need to be more vigilant against fake sources.
ReplyDeleteI'll be vigilant about what I post. Saw another post that stated that Daetz was on leave. Not true at all, though Daetz will eventually become a mom again. Guy was impressed with Kreutz filling in, but does respect Daetz, even with the fashion faux pas that RL has shared frequently.
People are starting to tire of the nonstop Kobe coverage. Yes, he was huge in Southern California but he was also somewhat disliked elsewhere (especially due to past events). If you listened to the MSM you would think he was as beloved as Paul McCartney. God bless him, it's a terrible loss, and god bless the OTHERS on that plane that seem to have become a footnote to a sports star. Their lives were just as important.
ReplyDeleteDude was more concerned about "Getting it First"...than "Getting it Right"
ReplyDeleteI think it was an honest but avoidable error, believing an unreliable source. You want to have two or more sources before you put anonymous source information on the air. That said, there's no shortage of scoundrels in this business who are flat out dishonest. Not just Brian Ross but "Lyin' Brian" Williams and Dan Rather (used forged documents for a story and got fired) come to mind immediately.
ReplyDeleteKTVU Fox 2 News was first to report the helicopter pilot's name
ReplyDeleteGutman is lucky he still has a job. Should have been fired.
ReplyDeleteIn the old days, accuracy was the number one goal of the media.
Today, it's all about being first and accuracy be damned!