Social media over the last few years has brought up the question of whether it’s more important to be first or right. Obviously, everyone wants to be both, but the solid line that once defined American journalism has been crossed too many times since the great Twitter boom of 2009. Today, being wrong first can get you more attention than being right second.
Outside of tech geeks and the LA/NY entertainment scene, who had really heard of What’s Trending before yesterday? Shira Lazar has enjoyed a distinct level of fame, but the show was still in the early stages of growth. Now, it’s the buzz of the internet because of a handful of Tweets about Steve Jobs.
That the Tweets were wrong and irresponsible are not in question. Whether it was an unpaid intern, a producer, a social media guru, or Shira Lazar herself who sent out the Tweet is not an issue. It happened. It was corrected. Apologies were made. It’s time to move on with more care given to the truth, right?
Well, not exactly. There will be no “moving on” with CBS. They reacted swiftly and decisively, releasing the show and pulling down every bit of content (most of which was absolutely excellent IMHO) from their sites. Their journalistic standards were breached and their reputation is getting attacked, so they did what they thought they had to do.
Were they right? Normally in poll questions I refrain from putting in my input until the question has been answered fully, but here I cannot resist. Doctors are taught that when a knife is stuck into someone, you don’t react by pulling it out immediately. You can do more harm than good.
To me, that’s exactly what they did. They took a knife to the shoulder and reacted poorly, trying to obliterate any attachment to those evil souls who Tweeted out uncorroborated information. By pulling out the knife, they caused more harm. Here’s what they should have done:
- Issue an apology, noting that What’s Trending is an independent partner that does not fall under the same journalistic scrutiny as their standard news outlets.
- Defend What’s Trending as a cutting-edge, progressive show that gets it right 99% of the time. A mistake was made, and CBS has discussed with the producers of What’s Trending about the importance of being correct before being first.
- Behind the scenes, they should have scolded the heck out of everyone they could get on the phone at What’s Trending, warning that any further mistakes of this caliber cannot be tolerated.
- Turn it into something good. They could have done a show about Steve Jobs, perhaps highlighting his favorite charities or exploring his contributions with an in-depth video (produced by What’s Trending, of course).
- Move on.
The story should have died this morning. We should no longer be talking about it. Instead, we’re now discussing the bigger story. They took a minor infraction on Twitter and demonstrated something about their company, that they might want to exist in the 21st century as a player that can draw in Generation Y through hot shows like Lazar’s, but their still too obtuse in their thinking to truly make that leap.
“Meh, we tried to be cool, but we got burnt by those darn What’s Trending kids, so we’re going to stick with what works, CSI and slow news.”
Okay. My rant is done. Please weigh in. Am I wrong? Are they right?
About JD Rucker
So the downside of requiring journalistic integrity is that CBS won’t be “cool”? All from severing a relationship with a web show, that as you state, “outside of tech geeks and the LA/NY entertainment scene” no one has ever heard of? Plenty outside that realm have heard about it now, all from a patently false tweet that left CBS with a black eye.
I disagree that who tweeted doesn’t matter. It does matter. The “reports” sourced to make the tweet, as indicated by the “apology” that followed that led to the tweet of misinformation out in the first place, also matter. Note the quotes around apology, because it was anything but, and only furthers the idea that there was no journalistic integrity in place. Answers to those questions, not to mention the flippant and unprofessional attitude displayed, could be why CBS decided to end the relationship.
I don’t believe CBSNews.com should have ever have hosted the show to begin with, and they appear to agree by tossing it. If it’s going to be associated with a journalistic endeavor, like CBS News, then it should be subject to the same standards placed upon CBS News. If it’s entertainment, place it on CBS.com or some other non-journalistic site where you’re free from the encumbrances of journalistic integrity. Otherwise, CBS is no better than FoxNews, where opinion, mistruths and vitriol flow free, and “news” is in short supply.
Lazar’s 15 minutes are up and nothing of value was lost.
There are plenty of errors and misinformation sent out by all the news agencies and corrections on page 12 or verbal mia culpas every day – even by CBS. What’s trending obviously received misinformation and passed it on. Their apology came swiftly. They produce a quality and innovative show. Someone at CBS does not like the challenge of the futur and decided to axe instead of fix.
The whole “What’s Trending” thing aside, I find it laughable that CBS, a slanted political mouthpiece who reports and omits news items selectively, expects anyone to believe they still have “journalistic integrity.” Oh please.
Great article, I thought the same thing when I first heard. Huge over reaction, this is not the first time a death has been falsely reported. How many times have Charlie Sheen and Lindsey Lohan died in the last few months?
Anyway, hope the show lives on especially since I just found out about it this week.
The show is about “What’s Trending,” meaning what is the buzz of the moment. We want our info incredibly fast and go to the places that give it to us fast. But as we encourage news reporters, tweeters, etc. to try to be first, and vote on that with our readership/viewership, how can we fault them if they sometimes get their info wrong?
NO, they did NOT overreact. IN fact, Shira Lazar should feel lucky that CBS doesn’t go out of their way to tarnish her brand further.
This real-time world we live in cannot be dominated by misfits who feel they can say and do whatever they want. This is a tough game, and Lazar’s bad decision coupled with terribly immature response leaves her exactly where she deserves: on the doorstep.
Hallelujah!
There is hope for media, indeed HUMANITY, to have finally turned the camera away from such a consistently shallow and meaningless presence as is/was Shira Lazar. After meeting her in LA once and seeing her show a few times, I was so happy to hear that her unintelligent, arrogant and generally off-putting personality was finally rewarded for the brainlessness that she projected. For that, we can thank Twitter – good for so many things!
I think What’s Trending and Shira Lazar herself are fantastic, and agree with the writer of this article that CBS overreacted. A show about up to the minute news can only be held fallible in such a situation up to a point. Apologies were made, and that, combined with their being honest and ethical reporters the rest of the time, should be enough. It’s idiotic to assassinate the character of anyone creating the show over something that could and should be moved beyond very easily. The whole idea for me with web shows, news, or tweeting, is that you are able to move on easily from one bite to the next.
People make mistakes, transparency is what’s key, and frankly the ‘wrong reporting’ here could just as easily have been right. This is not an event where any type of malice was at play. There’s a much larger argument to be made for the tastes of the public, and whether it is preferable to receive information with a few grains of sand sometimes, over totally streamlined faux-breaking-news garbage.
The only thing that strikes me about What’s Trending is that it looks very identical in format to a show that was broadcasting out of Toronto long before it went to air called “Nat and Marie”. I think that CBS’ reaction was swift but overall I’ve been watching both shows for about a year and I’ve only noticed What’s Trending become increasingly like Nat and Marie in format. While Nat and Marie is more rough around the edges, I enjoy them more than Shira Lazar. Mainly because the idea of the big guys ripping off the little guys always makes me want to root for the underdogs.