Rumor Control

So as I mentioned earlier, someone on Reddit took the comment that I’ve made about “Young Justice” any number of times, put his own spin on it, and suddenly the Internet was alive with assertions that I had had a meeting with Netflix about a third season of YJ.

What fascinates me is the number of websites who posted reports of the guy’s false claim as opposed to the number who contacted me for verification.

The answer? None. Not a single website bothered to contact me via Twitter (until after the fact) or email, even though my email address is public.

One site recently wound up posted on Facebook and I got fed up. I wrote an admittedly scathing note stating that the writer/editor (so he bills himself) had been journalistically remiss in not bothering to contact me; that such a lapse was inexcusable and he should take the non-story down immediately. The fact that it said in the story that it was unsubstantiated rumor infuriated me even more. What was the point in printing something that you yourself declared was unreliable?

His response? He apologized profusely.

Kidding: He threw a hissy fit. He called me names, declared that he’d been a big supporter of the show but now hoped it would rot, and was no longer a fan of mine.

Now am I being old fashioned? Is it my BA in journalism or my old reporter’s instincts being applied to non-journalism? It may well be me, but I simply do not understand the point of publishing unsubstantiated rumors, especially when (1) they can be easily double checked and (2) can cause damage. As I said, if enough people believed that a third season of YJ was a go, they might well say “Mission accomplished!” and stop watching it on Netflix, which would damage the cause. So falsely reporting the existence of a third season could well ensure there won’t be one.

Say what you will about Rich Johnston–and God knows a lot has been said–but there have been a number of occasions where he has written to me in researching an article for “Bleeding Cool” and asked for verification. At which point he runs the story with my comments included or, several times, has dropped the article because it was baseless. That’s how you do it.

If you’re a private blog and you say, “I heard this was said,” yeah, okay, I can kind of see it. Not thrilled, but I understand. But if you are a general comic book blog, then I’m sorry, but I think that you have a journalistic obligation to double check something before putting it up there. Because people don’t remember that you said, “This isn’t verified.” Half the time they don’t even remember where they read it; they just remember what they read (or even better, just read the headline) and will then repeat it, and the next thing you know, damaging misinformation is being widely disseminated as fact.

PAD