The Blogs Get It Wrong But The Mainstream Can Get Away With It Worse

Earlier this week, the blogosphere got criticized for hyping a blog by Iranian Leader Ahmadinejad that turned out to be flase. Meanwhile, there was a very interesting article on BBC World Service this morning about the overblown US media reaction to the event where a woman freaked out on a flight between London and DC yesterday. While it now turns out the woman was innocent, at the time the US networks went into overdrive with pundits, conspiracy theories and al-Qaeda connection theories. The BBC website notes:

Meanwhile, over on CNN and Fox News, experts speculated about early reports suggesting that banned items had been found on the plane. Was it Vaseline? That would be cause for alarm: last week’s arrests in London reportedly centred on a plan to concoct explosives from liquids or gels while a plane was in flight. Was it a screwdriver? Even worse: the 9/11 hijackers took control of four planes with nothing more than small, sharp hand tools – and the fifth anniversary of 9/11 is looming. Was it a note about al-Qaeda? If so, apparent proof that a terrorist had got on board.

In the end, though, it seems that the passenger at the centre of the alert had none of those items.

And unlike the blogosphere, mainstream media just get away with it and move on….