Less than a week after their embarrassing wrong report on the US Supreme Court healthcare ruling, CNN waited until it was absolutely sure before reporting Andy Griffith’s death today.
With individuals able to disseminate information on platforms such as Twitter, bypassing the media’s former gate-keeping ability, there is no strategic advantage to be “first” on information that is going to be widely known in a short time.
There is a huge advantage to being the source that readers turn to when they seek to confirm individual or media reports.
That’s the future of the “mainstream, establishment, professional, or whatever other term you wish to use” news leaders.