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March 24, 2006
Scoble on credibility
Scoble on credibility: Robert Scoble, Microsoft blogger, addresses a recent unsourced rumor this way: "Whenever you see a story that says 60% of any OS is gonna be rewritten you should demand that the journalist who wrote that be immediately and publicly fired. Totally 100% incompetent. Did NOT do their homework... A journalist and an editor needs to be fired. In fact, two journalists and editors need to be fired since the story is now being rewritten without any brains being engaged." I disagree. I think people should be free to publish any damnfool bit of nonsense that enters their heads. But we need to crack down on giving credibility to people who believe rumors when evidence is lacking. (For a recent horrible case, the "riot against cartoons in defense of Allah!" murders were caused by a direct lie -- the three truly offensive cartoons were apparently produced by the Danish Imams themselves -- I don't know of anyone who was actually offended by the innocuous Danish cartoons the North American newspapers were too timid to publish. But people were told to riot, and urge beheadings, and they did. It's the blind obedience to whatever programming enters your teeny noggin that we've got to protest, not the inevitable uttering of stupid stuff itself.) Anyway, journalists and publications which do not provide links to source evidence are low-class, yes, but should not be prohibited from speech on that reason alone. Yes, their allegations will cause real damage to others, but any investor who bases their future on unsourced stories will pay the longer-term, heavier price than Microsoft will here, so the incentives are placed correctly. Better to encourage skepticism than to do the Red Queen routine on all the weaker folk, I think....
Posted by John Dowdell at March 24, 2006 03:03 PM
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