Columbia Journalism Review’s Gal Beckerman has a thorough write-up on how the media’s prediction of John Edwards closing down his campaign turned out to be astronomically wrong yesterday.
The culprit, as it so often is, was a reporter relying on a single source. The secondary culprits were nearly every other major news outlet who cited that report. Elizabeth Edwards even took a small jab at the media with her comment, “You haven’t turned out to be so reliable in the last 24 hours.”
Of course, it was all made possible thanks to the speed of Internet reporting. From CJR’s assessment of the debacle:
The problem, as we see it, is twofold. In spite of claiming to realize the power of the Internet – that’s why, presumably, Politico was able to lure big time political reporters like Smith away from newspapers – the reporters and editors who run the site still don’t realize how far their voice carries. We imagine Smith probably thought that a blog post couldn’t possibly make it farther than his own beltway readership. He should know better, and be just as careful about announcing such news as he would be in any other medium.But the bigger problem has to do with the Internet itself. By giving the impression that everything is immediately correctible, it lowers accountability, making it seem okay to take risks – like basing a story on one source. If a Web site like Politico wants to be taken seriously, it has to live be the same rigorous standards that most news organizations live and die by.
Lesson hopefully learned by all of us. Here’s the original post from the Politico blog, and here’s his apology.
I am sadden to hear the news about Elizabeth Edwards, but What I cannot understand is why the former senator would want to continue his campaign for president.
Her illiness is very serious and can only be held at bay for a short time before it kills her. She will die from this terrible disease and in the finally months it will be gut wrenching for the entire family.
I would want to spend as much time with my family as a group before the end happens. I don’t want to come across and being harsh but even though she looks normal and healthy, this will not last long. This disease will evetually take her life in the most horrifying manner.
The Edwards’ have a six and eight years old children, and I would think that this is more important than running for President. A person has many political fights if he wishes but only one life. His political ambition has blinded his common sense and sense of self-importance.