The hotbed of social media went ballistic the day former University of Montana record-setting running back Chase Reynolds headed for Seattle for a tryout with the Seahawks.
While it should not be surprising that a Grizzly fan site jumped the gun that a tweet reported Reynolds had signed a free agent deal with Seattle, it is a bit disturbing that blog sites from the UM campus – ones that are supposed to know better – also reported he had inked a deal and was in the NFL fold.
It quickly went viral and when I followed suit by sharing the news on Facebook, I quickly had more than three-dozen congratulatory responses.
I even messaged Chase with my congrats with the caveat that the good wishes were contingent on the Emerald City rumor being true.
And by the time he got to Seattle, and probably when he turned his cell phone back on, he was deluged with good wishes before the Hawks ran him through his paces.
Ah yes, the Internet – sometimes at its best yet often at its worst.
As it turns out he got a contract to practice and will have a chance to make the team’s roster. So I guess all’s well that ends well.
But it really points out how the blogosphere runs unabated, unedited if you will, and unverified. And while in this case it was no big deal, the game of checks and balances and three verifiable sources before publishing are just a thing of the past.
It seems everybody, with little training and less knowledge, is writing a blog.
And according to a recent Los Angeles Times story a horde of lawsuits have surfaced from people who claim their reputation was damaged or they were defamed by blog posts.
Some situations even have led to criminal along with civil difficulties.
Now granted nothing prevents a blogger from saying what they want. In fact, a person even is protected by the right to free speech.
But, as the Times story continues, nothing protects a blogger, even an anonymous one, from being sued.
And other circumstances can also occur.
In the Reynolds case, for example, is it possible that a Seahawk official reads all the chatter, immediately attributes it to Chase, and decides he’ll knock that Football Championship Subdivision athlete down a notch by letting him know negotiations and contracts are meant to be private and not the view of the hometown folks? I know I don’t want to start my employment that way.
There’s no doubt that everyone wants to be the one with the scoop and fan sites always are full of speculation.
I find those different than a blog, especially one published under the auspices of a daily or weekly or even monthly publication.
I guess I’m from the old school. I write every day but even though I’m prone to make mistakes, I constantly check my copy for errors and sometimes triple check names and titles, especially those I am certain that I know without verification.
There’s nothing more aggravating or embarrassing for any journalist than to see an error in print and know there’s nothing you can do about it except note a correction, which of course comes after the damage has been done.
Even in the blogosphere a correction can’t occur soon enough to prevent a plethora of misinformation.
And for that Chase, I’m sorry.