Report Then Verify (Patreon)

It used to be in Journalism, you would gather all the facts on a story, verify those facts and then report the story. 

But, in these days of less people doing more, it is easier just to report the story and worry about the facts later. 

Example:

WYMT (Kentucky) reported that the Magic Mart in Coal Run Village was going to be turned into a church for "Rainbow Flock Ministry" and "Pastor Clark". The church would be centered for the LBGTQ community. 

Well, as you could expect and LBGTQ church is not something you see everyday in Kentucky and some people wondered if this story was true?

It was then that WYMT then started to look into the facts on the story, after they reported it. 

On the station's website, they said this:

"Our management team spent much of the evening trying to verify the information sent to us by "Rainbow Flock Ministry" and "Pastor Clark". We have learned the news release appears factually inaccurate.

WYMT Assistant News Director Kyle Collier reached out to the owner of the building. Here is their statement in its entirety:

The story reported earlier today regarding the Magic Mart in Coal Run Village is not true. We have had no contact with this church. Currently, we are negotiating with a retail tenant for this location," said management with Ramsey Pike, LLC (owners of the building).

Our team failed to meet the standards of journalism we set here at WYMT. They did not attempt to contact anyone who owns the building or the mayor of Coal Run. Our journalist simply posted a release we were sent via Facebook and e-mail. It is inexcusable and we apologize to all of you who rely on WYMT as your source for local news."

It appears that the station feel for a fake press release and reported the story as fact, without making a phone call. 

Now of course the blame needs to be place of the person that read the release and then posted the story. But, the blame also goes to management, for not having a system and guidelines in place. And of course the blame goes to the owners that continue to try do more and more news, across multiple platforms, with less people. 

You would hope that a mistake like this doesn't happen again, but in these times on more news, less people, it most likely will. 

Just saying...