A truly bizzare reaction over at TechCrunch – the readers clamor for bad journalism
Once upon in a time, in a land far, far away a journalist by the name of Walter Cronkite could be found, via a Gallup poll, to be the single most trusted person in America. Yes, a lowly journalist was the person that Americans trusted most. And how did he get to be so trusted? Largely because he did his best to tell people the truth, in so far as he knew it. He had the advantage of living in an era before the anonymous sourcing of stories had become important. When he got important information, he shared it with the public.
To my way of thinking, basing important stories on anonymous sources is one of the banes of the present eras.
I’m surprised to see, over at TechCrunch, that Michael Arrington was sent some important information via emails, and he promptly published all the emails, and his readers, in the comments, are almost wholly opposed to his actions:
OoTheNigerian (@OoTheNigerian) – April 30th, 2009 at 5:20 pm PDT
Bad Journalism Mike! Never reveal your sources. You have just killed this guys credibility. He was trying to give you inside information and you played it wrong!!
Not Nice!!Bob 3 – April 30th, 2009 at 5:42 pm PDT
Michael Arrington, here goes your credibility….
Doing this will further reduce your website traffic..Cicero – May 1st, 2009 at 12:28 am PDT
I agree … don’t reveal your sources
Too many ones – May 1st, 2009 at 8:58 am PDT
Right. Owen Van Nutta would never have done this mike, and you say his integrity is questionable.
Rehan yar Khan – May 1st, 2009 at 12:01 pm PDT
V bad Mike, totally killed your credibility!
Seb – April 30th, 2009 at 5:33 pm PDT
I COMPLETELY agree…
Seriously mike…
“Not Nice!!” does not even begin to describe this…But you probably don’t care what we think anyway
These people live in some kind of alternate universe where building a story around anonymous sources is actually a good thing.