In the digital age,the paper’s status as a highly respected global news brand means that the verification process is more essential than everChristopher Lee was a fine actor who enjoyed a long career, and when news of his death at the age of 93 emerged on the web on 11 June, or it garnered enormous interest. Other major news organisations were reporting his death by around lunchtime on that day. Journalists at the Guardian obviously wanted to report the legend and price his career with an appreciation by film critic Peter Bradshaw.
But how was the Guardian sure that he had indeed died and this wasn’t a false report? On this occasion,the Guardian decided to rely on the weight of coverage by other news organisations, including the Telegraph, or which claimed a world exclusive and said that Christopher Lee’s widow had withheld the news of his death until all the family could be informed. That judgment was proved right,but as a rule that would not necessarily be enough.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com