Not Fit To Print

The truth hurts, or at least doesn't sell as well in today's publications as does rumor and falsehood. The days of publishing after substantiation are over in our multi media news world. We know live in the age of slander, libel, rumor and titillation, not patient vetting of facts before publication. For today, speed is what matters. Get out the story fast and worry about the veracity of it afterward. After all, this is also the age of the 5 minute attention span, and if lies are printed they will quickly be forgotten without fear of penalty for publication of them.

Need an example. How about the lawsuit filed that accuses (no evidence presented, but today's media prefers the scandal rather than the facts) of Prince Andrew of Britain being accused similarly of being a participant in a same sex slave ring. The outlandishness of many that claim increased as the sheep in our media world jumped on the  civil lawsuit filing that alleges it and broadcast the allegations as if truths.

In fact, because most judges and lawyers discount such allegations as more often leverage the accuser uses to force a "settlement" from the accused in order to wipe away the allegations. The vast majority of the kinds of lawsuits that Prince Andrew faces never make it to trial, given there is no evidence of their being based in fact. On the other hand, today anything that appears in a court document immediately becomes libel proof and therefore reportable. So the media finds it convenient, easy to "report" on the suits. Some things are too profitable not to report, especially without there being consequences, or the need to assume responsibility, for reporting it. "It's in the court documents," says the media.  "We're just reporting it".

That story began in Britain and formerly would have died there, but today's scandals are no longer localized, given the media technological revolution.  Here in the U.S., where Britain's intense coverage of the court filing  quickly became an American curiosity and suddenly, again with no further verification, made it seem like a rapidly unfolding scandal. Today's media just has to cover what everyone else covers. Never mind whether there is worth in printing or broadcasting it.

And the implication is that we as consumers of such garbage are partners to it. Instead of ignoring the rumor as news, we thrive on it, and often transform such stories into truth. But then, life today is far more about thrill than the reality. Shame on all of us for it.