The Online Version

Second thoughts about first thoughts, the differences between print and online, and what remains, here from the NYT opinion pages.

Additionally, one of Howard Kurtz’s guests on Reliable Sources today waxed eloquent about the media’s problems with getting it right the first time. Diane Dimond says she discovered great inaccuracy in the press’s reporting about the famous Salahi “White House dinner crashing” incident while she was doing research for her book, Cirque du Salahi (CreateSpace, 2010), primarily because journalists did not verify the information they were passing on. But she also notes that the Salahis also did not respond to requests from the media for comment, on the advice of lawyers. Ms. Dimond mentions that in a number of recent cases, the mainstream press have gotten “the story” wrong.

Is the urge to get the story first getting in the way of getting the story right? And is pressure from the blogosphere increasing the need to get the story first?