UPDATED: Attacker at Ohio State University killed

Blame the corporate overlords. They're the ones demanding that reporters give them something ... anything ... the minute they arrive on the scene.

 

except no one is dying from the misinformation sent out by reporters -- well, except YF, that is.

 

FWIW, after posting this thread, I rethought the thread title and wanted to change it to read "Active shooter reported at Ohio State University." Couldn't figure out how to change thread titles, though.

In an ideal sense, I actually agree with YF that the media is too quick to try to be first, rather than accurate. In a pragmatic sense, that horse left the barn and got beaten to death long ago. In an age of instant communication, if you're not first, people are going to go elsewhere to get their news.

As consumers of media, we need to understand that we now see the process of news gathering played out in near real-time, rather than seeing only the finished copy. Most people are savvy enough to now realize that developing stories are just that - developing.

But there is some value in that, particularly as it pertains to disasters and dangerous situations, in which instant information can save lives. This guy had a knife and wasn't much of a threat to campus at large. But imagine if Twitter had been as prevalent in 2007 as it is now - maybe there would have been fewer casualties at Virginia Tech.

The problem comes when reporters try to fill in the blanks instead of relying on solid information. I didn't see much of that today, as I only checked into CNN.com a few times and didn't see some of the reporting of multiple shooters, etc.

 

They had at least three (3) different sources saying it was an active shooter.

 

I agree with this. I also agree that there need to be standards for reporting, and that one anonymous "eyewitness" report of there being multiple shooters or whatever cannot fly. Who's to say some jackass from Toledo isn't calling a TV station with Call of Duty in the background and claiming he's locked in a classroom?

 

There's a discussion to be had (and it happens regularly, including here) about what instant news does to the media's credibility, because in situations like this the initial information is almost always wrong.

But the old news cycle is gone and it isn't coming back because there is a world of information addicts now who demand a pellet come out of the machine every time they press the magic button. And like YF, a lot of them push the button every few seconds, and demand that it be the tastiest, most-attractive, most-wholesome pellet every time.

 

To edit the thread title in the first few days, look for the tiny drop-down menu way to the right of the hed in the originating post.

 

Did anyone do that? Take a phoner from some random caller and report multiple shooters? The CNN.com story I saw quoted a student on campus who heard multiple gunshots. He wasn't wrong, it turns out, it's just that those shots were fired by police.

 

The "active shooter" was the cop. He got there so fast, confusion is not unexpected.

 

I was exaggerating to make a point that one-source reporting is unacceptable, even in chaotic situations.

 

Did you not read the second part?

 

Gotcha.