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April Fools and News Credibility

At a conversation site where I spend some time, someone noted a Twitter posting from earlier today — well worth repeating:

“What I like about April Fool’s Day: one day a year we’re asking whether news stories are true. It should be all 365.”

3 Comments on “April Fools and News Credibility”

  1. #1 Seth Finkelstein
    on Apr 1st, 2008 at 11:45 pm

    Yes indeed. But the deep problem is that it is humanly impossible to investigate everything from first principles. We need institutions which encourage accuracy, because pitting marketers and demagogues againts busy people is not a good thing.

  2. #2 The Churner Prize » Blog Archive » Welcome to The Churner Prize
    on Apr 2nd, 2008 at 12:06 pm

    […] anonymous Twitter post picked up by Dan Gillmor yesterday sets the tone nicely for The Churner Prize: What I like about April Fool’s Day: one day […]

  3. #3 Dan Gillmor
    on Apr 2nd, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    Seth, people should be skeptical of everything they read/view/hear. They should not, however, be equally skeptical of everything. That’s where these institutions have a major advantage if they recognize it and handle it well.