Summary:
The article “Should
Reddit Be Blamed for the Spreading of a Smear?” discusses the effect that individuals
can have in the media by posting a story that can quickly spread all over. The story began with a Reddit user who posted
a side by side photo of a missing student, Sunil Tripathi, and then Boston bombing
suspect number two, and claimed both were the same person and that is the
reason for Tripathi’s missing. This post
spread to the police, the FBI, news outlets and many celebrity bloggers and they
quickly spread the news to their followers that both people are indeed the same
person. The truth came out later and it
was discovered that the photos were of different people and the masses blamed
the Reddit for the spreading of the false news.
Questions:
1. Do you think Reddit
is to blame for the spreading of the false news?
2. In
lecture, we discussed that some news outlets release news and statements
without fact checking because they want to be the first news outlet to release
the news. Do you think this is what happened here?
3. It was said in the
article that a Boston police scanner started the false mass spread of news by stating
Sunil Tripathi was the second suspect of the bombing. Do you think this is
enough evidence for a news outlet to spread news or do you think more
background checking and research should be done before news is released?
4. Reddit
has generated five billion views with over 70 million visitors a month and the
number of posters doubles every month.
Do you think websites such as Reddit, have more influence over people
with news content than actual news stations?
5. A quote from the
article says, “News has become filtered, bureaucratic and slow. Reddit is the opposite of that. It’s fast, unfiltered and transpired. There
will always be a need for that sort of information.” Do you agree with this statement that we
really do not need news if individuals can post whatever news they want online?
6. The Tripathi’s family
personal privacy was violated after people had accused Sunil to be the bombing
suspect. It is stated that with the
internet and sites like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc. nothing is ever private
and people should expect to be watched at all times whenever they go out in
public. How do people feel about that?
Do you agree or disagree? Do you think this is a problem that our society faces
today?
With the media today, nothing is really protected once it is
out in the open for everyone to see. The
false news of the Sunil Tripathi being the Boston bombing suspect spread like
wildfire after a post by a user on Reddit.
The post and spreading of the news shows how powerful the media is
spreading news and that once something is said online, true or false, people
will believe it.
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