In a conversation with Ask’s Jim Lanzone recently, he complained that many non-journalist bloggers have risen to positions of influence and are simply able to post things without the rigors, ethics or controls that have historically guided journalists — including fact checking.
Indeed, rumors are now often posted and reposted without qualification or verification in some cases. And then there’s just plain sloppiness. Yesterday, I fell into the latter category.
In my post, “What’s ‘The Problem with Local Search’?” I was responding to what I assumed to be a new article and post. But it was pointed out to me that the post was from early 2006!
It came up in Google News as a NEW item and the date was buried at the very bottom of the post. But I should have caught it. So, even though my general characterization of the state of the market is/was accurate in my view:
- My remarks about YellowBook CEO Joe Walsh are now unfair; everything he said was likely accurate at the time
- I need to pay closer attention, despite the frenzied pace of things
As they say in the vernacular: “my bad.”