Who's Checking?

The 6pm channel 7 news reported about 20 minutes ago that there was 'breaking news' of another bomb blast in Jakarta. Then 10 minutes later it was reported as a hoax.

Who is checking the information that goes to air? I know Richard Wilkins isn't exactly a journalist so not much is expected of him in the way of accurate information (I am of course referring to his reporting of Jeff Goldblum's death before Jeff Goldblum knew about it) - but the 6 o'clock news can surely be expected to have some credibility?

The fact is that television and print news are scared. The production of these takes time and the ability to report breaking news is limited. Clearly it results in jumping the gun and putting to air any old thing in an attempt to be the first to break the news.

Unfortunately it results in misinformation.

Farcical Today Show "News"

You can always count of Richard Wilkins to be a complete ignoramus in almost any circumstance. With the breaking news of Michael Jackson's death this morning he was also reporting the death of actor Jeff Goldblum - which wasn't true. It was an internet hoax that had actually gone round the traps in 1999 (the first time) when a rumour started about Goldblum having an accident whilst filming in New Zealand. Wilkinson was still reporting his death 30 minutes later - even though there was nothing about Goldblum on New Zealand Herald site nzherald.co.nz.

Then there was this (from Crikey twitter feed);
There was also the particularly classy moment where Richard pulled out the folded photo of he and Michael Jackson. The excuse was that Lisa had wanted to know how tall Michael was. There was a particularly awkward few moments where Wilkins was bumbling about comparative heights; "I'm six foot three with hair and heels ... so that should give you an idea" - priceless self-indulgence.
Of course there was also the faux 'gaining composure' moment where Wilkins cleared his throat and respectfully blinked for a moment longer than usual.

I'm sure we can look forward to a whole lot of wonderful reporting of MJ's death over the next few weeks *insert sarcasm here* - there's always the rush for an 'Aussie connection' - news.com.au was asking readers this morning "Did you meet Michael?" and had a story about an Australian family who were friends with him.

Let the chaos begin.