6.29.2009

The LA Times has one of those big, gassy, navel-gazing capital-J journalism blog posts wondering what would have happened in the media if TMZ had been wrong about Jackson’s death. Of course, TMZ reported it first and reported it correctly, so the LA Times is reporting about hypothetical scenarios.  (Some ideas for the folks at the LAT: “Analysis: Bipartisan response likely after space-alien invasion,” or “How would Loch Ness Monster endorsement affect ‘12 primaries?”)

At any rate, they quote a Jeffrey Seglin, who writes an ethics column for the New York Times Syndicate (make your own jokes at home). His quote:

“A curious thing is at play here,” Seglin continues. “Few people expect TMZ or Drudge or the National Enquirer to get things right or to report on issues of substance. When they do, at least so far, it’s a bit of an anomaly. So the consequences for getting it wrong among such sites do not seem terribly high. If CNN, Fox … got such things wrong, the consequences would likely be higher. That said, Fox News didn’t take as big a hit as it might have after it was revealed that the reports it filed on Sarah Palin not knowing Africa was a continent were based on a hoax.”

On a related note, I heard some news reporter amid the Jackson coverage refer to TMZ as a “Hollywood gossip site”.

Have these people ever been to TMZ?  It’s news, albeit Hollywood news, so it sounds like gossip, but it’s mostly fact.  They have an incredible track record in the (admittedly inconsequential) world of entertainment news. It has been my experience that when TMZ reports something about Hollywood, it’s accurate.  I can’t stand entertainment news, and I don’t know who 90 percent of the subjects are, but I always cheer for TMZ.  They’re a great example of a start-up operation that knew exactly what they were doing and became an instant standard-bearer in their market.

And Seglin’s comment about Drudge — I suppose he’s referring to the minute amount of original reporting Drudge does. I remember a couple of Drudge stories that didn’t pan out, but he usually was reporting on a rumor that’s floating around the media.  Drudge’s site is 99.9 percent news aggregator. There’s almost never any original reporting.

Has Seglin never been to these sites?  Or is this some kind of old-media territorialism?

Eh, who cares?