Whose fault is it when the facts come out wrong in a story?

Question

Is it always the newspaper or station's fault? Might it be the fault of the news source? Or might the "error" be in the minds of the audience?

Answer 1

Media. They twist words to make everything more dramatic. When in fact they are miss representing the facts.

Answer 2

It's all of the above's fault, but the audience always blames the source, ie... the newspaper or news network. That's the closest to them. The editor blames the source if in fact the story is inaccurate, and that makes the public blame the newspaper AND the editor. The old adage is "$hit flows downhill". But when it hits bottom, the whole puddle starts to rise.

Answer 3

Ultimately, it's the reporter. It's his or her name on the story, so that person is responsible.

How do mistakes happen? Sometimes the reporter simply makes an error for whatever reason. Often he gets bad information. As someone once said, we don't print the truth, we print what people tell us.

Can errors be in the mind of the reader? Absolutely. However, I've found that's more in the area of opinion instead of a fact. "Everybody knows Alex Rodriguez is the greatest player in history! How could he say it was Babe Ruth?"

Answer 4

I think the error usually lies in the minds of the audience. The inability to think critically and disseminate information is usually how issues get blown out of proportion.

Answer 5

I reckon the media have a duty to check facts before reporting them.

Answer 6

Y!A