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Is Journalism dead?

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Is Journalism dead?

By sjr4x4 : Administrator

Published 27th November 2012 |

Read latest comment - 24th January 2013

Interesting story from marketing land, PR Web, an online press release company inadvertently released a fake press release stating Google was about to buy an ISP for $400m. It looks like it was done to try and artificially inflate the stockprice, and was basically fraudulent.

But the bigger question is why the press release was approved and submitted, and why so many news agencies (including Google news) picked it up and ran with it.

Before the online instant news and twitter culture arrived, journalists would investigate a story like this, confirming it was at least correct, but now it's just a race to get content online.
Most Outlets Duped In Rush To Cover Google-ICOA Acquisition

PR Web has taken some flak, and a follow up article by search engine land is quite funny, showing how supposedly approved press releases are just spammy viagra promo

How PRWeb Helps Distribute Crap Into Google & News Sites

Maybe content isn't always king...

Steve Richardson
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  Name: promostamper
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promostamper : Growing Business
27th November 2012 8:44 PM

also to be the first to break a story - most of the online places are just in it for the money and if they offer free then they just piblish relying on honesty of those sending press release

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sjr4x4 : Administrator
28th November 2012 1:13 PM

Originally Posted by promostamper

“relying on honesty of those sending press release”

I guess self regulation isn't going to work in this brave new onlineworld

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sjr4x4 : Administrator
28th November 2012 4:03 PM

In the same vain of declining journalism, this made me laugh.

The Chinese online paper "the Peoples Daily" was taken in by a spoof that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un was voted the sexiest man alive for 2012

BBC News - China paper carries Onion Kim Jong-un 'heart-throb' spoof

Although I noticed the Peoples Daily site now returns a 404 error for the content, so I guess the editor was thrown out of the window...

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alicemenezes : Growing Business
3rd December 2012 11:54 AM

"thrown out the window".......

But anyways several mistakes like these have happened in the past too. I don't really remember specific incidents but thee have been instances where some "breaking news" is released and then taken back and lamely apologized for. So it could just be the result of miscommunication of lack of concrete reports etc....

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sjr4x4 : Administrator
3rd December 2012 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by alicemenezes

“...So it could just be the result of miscommunication of lack of concrete reports etc....”

or sloppy journalism

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IamBob : Growing Business
4th December 2012 10:53 PM

Yes, the line between real and fake is getting harder and harder to discern with the internet and social media. Look at all the fake celebrity deaths that get tweeted, and that's a fairly minor example.

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sjr4x4 : Administrator
7th December 2012 9:21 AM

So we finally have the Leveson Enquiry report about the state of the press and journalism, and then it turns out part of the report used an incorrect wikipedia entry as a source!!

You can't make it up!
Leveson's Wikipedia moment - The Independent

So it's not just the spammers that cut and paste, it seems the occasional judge can be guilty as well

Steve Richardson
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rachaelcollins01
7th December 2012 11:06 AM

You are absolutely right!!!

rachaelcollins01

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