Social media moved to the forefront in relating news of the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday, images and information about the incident spreading quickly through tweets and retweets. Lots of false information also spread. CNN documented five stories that weren’t true including one report that the Boston police shut down cellular networks to stop an attacker from using a cell phone to set off another bomb. (CNN, April 16, 2013, by Doug Gross)
Notwithstanding the spread of false reports, Mathew Ingram, paidContent, April 15, 2013, argues that chaos is inevitable and journalists Twitter will conduct itself as “a self-cleaning oven” to rid itself of lies with the help of both amateur and professional journalists.
David Holmes, PandoDaily, April 15, found the coverage by social media and others improved over the coverage of Hurricane Sandy and Newtown shooting, with practical help with information about where to give blood and blocks on scams to collect money supposedly for the victims. There was also a higher level of hesitancy to relay death counts and much information was labeled “unconfirmed.”