I'm not sure there is a story these days--news, sports, entertainment, anything--that showcases the change in how "information" gets reported like the college sports conference realignment story of the past 14 months.
These past 10 days we've been subjected to the so-called solid news that Texas A&M was defecting from the Big 12 and heading to the SEC. Doug Gottlieb, a well-considered talking head on ESPN and ESPN Radio, said it was a done deal, and also said that Missouri would be headed south too. Others mimicked Gottlieb's report until Sunday's revelation that A&M was, indeed, staying put--at least for now.
What happened to the notion that any story had to have two confirmed sources before being reported? Who are all of these "unnamed sources" who are being referenced in the various internet and traditional media reports?
The focus on "now" has created a new journalism (and, no, not the "new journalism" pioneered by guys like Truman Capote, Tom Wolfe, Hunter Thompson and others) which has being first as the key objective--not being right. I find it all very disturbing, never mind the fact that realignment in general is an unsettling topic. (More on that in a future post.)
We saw the same focus on immediacy last summer when the story changed hourly on whether Texas and its state brethren were fleeing the Big 12 for the Pac 12 or other environs. The same shifting news reporting occurred with the drama about Nebraska and Missouri coupling with the Big Ten.
Social media is partially to blame here given that any one of us with a Twitter or Facebook account can "report." The consumers' growing desire for immediate gratification is another reason for this shift in how news gets reported. Personally, I'd love it if there was some sort of scorecard so that we as consumers of news could better know who's been an accurate reporter, and who's batting less than .500. I doubt that would cure the issue but it would certainly bring some accountability to those who so flagrantly throw around reports, portrayed as facts, but which are anything but.
That's my two cents...
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