“But The Story Is Already Out There”

It’s a phrase becoming more and more common in newsrooms. Somebody in a supervisory position asks a reporter “what’s the source for this? Is this confirmed?” and the reply, all too often, is “but the story is already out there”, usually meaning it’s “out there” on social media. Like the story from social media a few months ago that Hugh Hefner had died, which far too many broadcast newsrooms picked up and ran with, until Hef himself tweeted that he really wasn’t dead. Here are some thoughts about “The Twitterization of News” by TV News Director Forrest Carr.