False Paterno Report Proves Big Media Doesn’t Get Social Media

As a Pennsylvania native and Penn State fan, today was not one of my favorite days. The news of Joe Paterno’s health condition started at 4:59PM EST when the following Tweet was shared by Onward State, a popular student-run media organization.
https://twitter.com/markcviera/status/160904588176793601

That didn’t stop big media outlets like CBS Sports, The Huffington Post, and even trusted online sources like BreakingNews.com from taking the story and running with it; reporting to millions of readers that the legendary coach had passed away.

After a brief shockwave of emotion to thousands of Penn State fans across the United States, big media once again proved that they do not understand social media journalism. The lesson here is simple: fact check twice, post once. Not everything you see on the Internet is a fact. Any great journalist understands the importance of fact checking before publishing any story, let alone one of this magnitude. Social media is one source, but it is not the ultimate source. The mistake exemplifies one of the downfalls of social media journalism. As Ben Parr points out, speed does not always correlate with accuracy. Update: The Paterno family released a statement saying that Joe Paterno has passed away.