Journalism 101: confirm the rumour then tweet…
There’s a reason they call Australian broadcaster Derryn Hinch the Human Headline. It’s tweets like this:
Unsurprisingly such a statement coming from a journalist, such as Hinch, quickly started to spread on social media.
But it also didn’t take long for the rumour to be quashed. The Australian’s Troy Bramston rang former Prime Minister Whitlam’s office and tweeted within 10 minutes of Hinch’s pronouncement:
Hinch later withdrew his tweet:
But perhaps only because news.com.au also told him he was wrong… 
I would talk with such a self righteous tone about confirming or checking sources before going to print guys.
User ID not verified.
Just confirms all that is wrong with journalism today. The desire to be first overcomes the desire to be right.
User ID not verified.
24 hour rolling news. And yet “being first” is a distinction..why?
User ID not verified.
So it was left to two News Limited journos to do some fact checking and correct the rumour started by Hinch. Wonder what professional News Ltd hater Stephen Conroy has to say about that?
User ID not verified.