When the story about Shirley Sherrod making racist remarks came out, like many, I first focused only on the content of the story - that Shirley Sherrod made racist remarks.
Then when follow-up news came out that the report was false, and the video depicting her making racist remarks was doctored, my focus shifted to what responsibilities news agencies have to report accurate news.
In a perfect world, news agencies that report inaccurate news would not be trusted and would thus not be able to stay in business. However, the fact of the matter is that "shock news" has evolved into a new business model, and whether or not the news is accurate, damage can be done, and the news agency that caused the damage has no liability or responsibility other than to issue a correction.
I then started to wonder how this makes sense with regard to the FCC's obscenity fines. Does it make sense that CBS was fined $550,000 dollars for broadcasting a tiny image of Janet Jackson's breast, while news agencies can, deliberately or not, report false news that can cause disasters for those who are getting reported upon without any penalty?
I think not! What do you think?
