Media you can trust - 17 Jan 2011

I imagine that when a world icon like Nelson Mandela does pass away there will be international mourning as was with the death of Princess Diana in 1997. I was only 12 when the news broke of her death and I remember feeling a sudden sense of loss as if someone close to me had died. It was all everyone spoke of during the days that followed. There was no questioning her death when it was announced on the radio and television because these were trusted sources of media.

This past Saturday it broke on Twitter that Nelson Mandela had died - which was confirmed to be false later that day by the Nelson Mandela Foundation spokesperson. Now imagine being a Twitter user and someone you follow retweets this rumour; chances are, you'd probably rewteet it as well in order to share news of this magnitude as quickly as possible without, in most cases, bothering to check the facts.

The bottom line is that Twitter, as a social media news source, may never be trusted completely or to the extent that traditional media is by society. Traditional media and news sources will always have a place in the digital age.

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