Journalism: Layers and layers of fact checkers

Journalism: Layers and layers of fact checkers

In 2016, USA Today published an embarrassingly incorrect map, as well as misspelling “marjijuana”:

The original USA Today article was corrected – 4 days later – and notes a prior version of the story used an incorrect map. This type of error passed through a graphic artist, at least one reporter, copy editors and an editor, which is not inspiring confidence in their journalistic integrity.
Meanwhile, two years later, numerous people are sharing the original map on social media (June 2018), without citing any source or reference or providing any verification that this was a true representation of the error at USA Today. In other words, a two year old error is now propagating over social media “going viral” – with no one noticing its 2 years old and long since corrected. Typical of social media as a frictionless platform for the spread of propaganda spewed by anyone.

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