Remember the good old days? I mean before the World Wide Web. Back when the material you read,more often than not, had been edited, not only for content, but also for grammar, punctuation, spelling, and syntax. Back then, most reputable publishing houses had fact-finders on their staff to verify information before it was passed along to readers.
Now, mind you, I am not running down the internet. It is in many respects the greatest source of information, certainly of information dissemination, ever devised. The question is whether it is not at the same time the world’s greatest source of disinformation. Absent sufficient editors out there to verify accuracy, what do we really have? Basically, almost anyone can post almost anything he or she likes, at almost any time, without regard for unimpeachable veracity. Within minutes of a bomb exploding in Pakistan, we have news services, and worse bloggers, spreading the word. And that word may have been greatly distorted or misrepresented. And, if so, who, if ever, is accountable? It becomes a matter of simply saying “sorry”, should anything at all be said. Social networking can be seen, and, indeed, is often referred to as “viral marketing”. Some may regard this as a positive; those of us who are trained in medicine have a visceral antipathy to any spread of virus.
The blogosphere is probably the most worrisome way to convey disinformation. While Reuters, the BBC, the NY Times, etc. have editors, and even Wikipedia entries are more or less reviewed for content, the blogosphere is the Wild West of the Web.
The question is whether we can be adequately discerning, so that we can filter out and discard obviously misleading and especially erroneous material. We were taught in school to believe the printed word. We now need to realize that what is in print before us on the computer might in fact be inaccurate. I recommend a healthy skepticism about most blogs, a great deal of what is on Facebook and Twitter. Furthermore, I suggest that folks not rush to post until they are sure they have their facts straight. Remember that the web is unforgiving and keeps the crap out there for a long time, if not forever. So think before you blog.
It wouldn’t hurt to reread your material, while you are at it. Check for spelling, fix up the grammar and punctuation. Do us all a favor.
What got me started on this was an article from the International Herald Tribune. Read it here: “The New Gatekeepers of Media”. Think about it the next time you go surfing through cyberspace.
