International media pwned by student's fake Wikipedia quote. FAIL.

This is startling proof of how increasingly dependent traditional media outlets are on the internet, and how they are doing this without the proper checks and balances. An Irish student recently made up a fake quote in the Wikipedia entry of musician Maurice Jarre a few hours after his death. Although the quote was spotted and removed by the Wikipedia community within a few hours, dozens of media outlets had gotten the news and used it on their articles.

So far only The Guardian admitted their mistake.

While the internet makes things faster for everyone, that doesn't mean everything available is reliable. People - especially the media! - have to be vigilant.

FAIL.


The whole article is here.