A Keyboard, a Camera and an Internet Connection Don’t Make You a Journalist

Well, it's finally here. The stupidity of allowing every person on the planet to become a self-appointed journalist through the worldwide web. There was a reason the federal government created the FCC to regulate the communications industry and oversee a public license. You may or may not know that radio/TV airwaves have to provide some public benefit and are used to transmit important emergency information, like Amber Alerts and flood warnings.

I don't know how many times I've read that Betty White has died, or that Richard Sherman has been traded to another NFL team, or that -- just this week -- QB Tim Tebow has been arrested for prostitution.

All three stories are false.

Some try to spin their "reports" as humorous and say it's just a joke. I don't know about you, but someone dyng is not funny. I guess I could see the Richard Sherman trade as a prank, but the Tim Tebow allegations aren't funny. This is real life, people, and just because someone is famous doesn't mean they should be subject to mistreatment and disrespect.

I'm all for a good joke, but there is a tasteful way to do things. I guess I'm just amazed that anything we read online, no matter the source or website, is taken as gospel. It's happened to a couple of local stories that took on an online life of their own -- only to be proven wrong, at untold cost.

It doesn't help that 24-hour news networks are all trying to be the first to report and will offer speculative news in place of real facts to accomplish that goal. Really? I can remember way too many stories that made it clear that for some, it's more important to be first than to be right.

And that's sad.