New York Times was hit with a $250 million settlement for libel after it was found that the paper had falsely reported that an explosion at the Port Authority caused the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001. Other outlets like The Associated Press and Reuters were also hit with similar settlements after similar false reporting.
When big news breaks, big news stories usually break first. For example, when the Titanic went down, there were a lot of stories about the sinking. But when the Hindenburg went down, there was only one story about the disaster, and it was in a very small newspaper.
There are thousands of news websites out there. How do you get your message out to them all? The answer is simple: create quality content and then share it.
But when it comes to breaking news, sometimes things don’t go as planned. Sometimes, news stories can be delayed or even completely missed. When that happens, you can do nothing about it except move on.
However, some news stories have caused major damage to companies, organizations, and individuals because they were not properly promoted, and even worse, because they were just plain mistakes.
This month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined NBC Universal and Fox Broadcasting $2 million each for airing an edited version of 911 calls in a news story about a mass shooting in Connecticut.
This was a huge mistake. The calls were edited without the permission of the caller. They also did not have the consent of the family who made the call. And the edited version of the call contained a graphic description of a child’s death.
News articles get posted, then disappear.
A few months ago, I was reading through a few of my favorite news websites, looking at their trending stories. I noticed that almost every time they wrote an article about a topic, it would appear on the homepage, then disappear within seconds.
I replicated this behavior by creating a new Google Docs document and writing an article about a topic I’m passionate about.
I copied the URL and shared it on Twitter. Within 10 minutes, my tweet went viral, and the Google Doc appeared on the homepage of Reddit and Hacker News.
As more and more people viewed the document, Google automatically started to rank it. Within a few days, my article ranked #1 on Google for the keyword I targeted, although it had never been written before.
It’s important to note that this strategy is not guaranteed to work for every article, but it is guaranteed to work for some.
Media outlets take on the news without checking the facts first
A common mistake for journalists is taking a piece of information from a website or social media and printing it as if it’s a fact.
There are a few reasons why this happens.
First, the journalist may be lazy. They may want to get something published quickly, so they grab an article off the web. Second, the journalist might be incompetent. They don’t have time to check the facts, so they take the information as truth.
But the biggest reason is that journalists are lazy and incompetent. They’re just too busy to check facts, so they don’t.
To avoid being duped, make sure to check the facts yourself. If you find a website with good credibility, consider linking to it.
News coverage of the 9/11 attacks
While most people remember the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, it wasn’t until after a few days that most people realized that they were a terrorist attack.
The reason is that only a handful of news outlets covered the attack. The New York Times, CNN, and Fox News broke the news.
This is because they all had the story, and they all had exclusive access to information. The other outlets either didn’t care about the story or couldn’t cover it.
When you publish content on a topic that’s already breaking news, it’s important to share your content with as many news sources as possible.
Newspapers’ coverage of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina is the poster child for the importance of quality content. At the time, the New York Times had a huge staff and could afford to cover almost everything that happened.
They did, however, cover Katrina exhaustively. They covered it on their website and their TV channel, and they even produced an online documentary about it.
The story is interesting because it highlights the importance of quality over quantity. The New York Times covered Katrina so thoroughly because they believed covering the story was important for the public.
If you’re a blogger wanting to get your message out, do the same thing. Make sure you cover the story properly and share it with your audience.
Frequently asked questions About News Outlets.
Q: How did this happen?
A: This was an accident. We were just in the middle of doing our photo shoot and ended up in the bathroom. Then, I came out and saw this picture on the floor.
Q: Where was this picture taken?
A: In the bathroom of the newsroom. We just moved there to be closer to the photographers. I thought the photographer was supposed to take a picture of my friends and me, but he took it alone. I think he was trying to make a quick picture.
Q: So you didn’t know this was happening?
A: No, I knew nothing until I came out of the bathroom. Then, I noticed the picture and started screaming. I don’t think anyone else even knew about it.
Top myths about News Outlets
1. The story is just too good to be true!
2. It happened to someone else, not me!
3. Someone else was involved and got the blame for it.
4. The Pentagon has enough weapons to destroy Russia and China.
5. U.S. troops were being used to control the population.
Conclusion
Over the years, we’ve learned that mistakes happen. But news outlets that get into trouble because of them are the ones that deserve to be punished.
If you’re interested in writing a news story, you need to know the difference between the news outlets. Some are very reputable, and others are not.