Deadspin's mea culpa

Following up on an item from a few days ago, Deadspin printed their retraction/apology to Bloodyelbow for botching the Lloyd Irvin story.

I think blogs scare a lot of people like Buzz Bissinger, because the traditional channels of accountability were changed (not like anyone in the media was fired over the botched coverage of the Iraq War and the 2000 election). But this is a great example of blogs self policing. I understand that Deadspin saw the story as far out especially considering that it wasn't picked up on by some major news outlets, but that doesn't forgive them for assuming it was fake without some investigative actions.

For Bloodyelbow they did an excellent job of ensuring the quality and truthfulness of their stories. The actions by both show that we blogs can come through mistakes just fine. It also shows that lazy reporting can happen on the internet just like it can in print.

This may be the age of 'truthiness' with slanted news coverage, political blogs, sports blogs and any other type of blog. But with all the information that is becoming available it is up to the consumer not to end up like Crazy McCain Rally Lady.