The Death of Pascal Sevran: When media goes too fast

One of the main attribute of the Internet as a new media & a new way of information circulation is its speed. It is consider as a great asset, but sometimes can cause real damages. Here is an example that happened this week in France, while French media (radio, TV, internet) announce an information that was false.

The Information
Pascal Sevran has been for decades a famous TV host in France, with shows dedicated to traditional French songs and dances. On April 21, in the morning, French Radio Europe 1 announces the death of Pascal Sevran, 62, due to a cancer.
Then, , to catch the train of this important news, the information is launched & most of the media starts to publish the information. In couple of hours, the information has spread:

• Wikipedia
• Yahoo News
• Blogs
  
• France 2 (French TV): On a pas tout dit: Because the host of France 2 TV show works at Europe 1, which announced the death, Laurent Ruquier says the news
  
• Direct 8: Because France 2 says it, and it was the channel of Pascal Sevran, announce the death
  

The fact is that this information is false. The morale of this story is that because the information circulate so fast and on a wide range of medium/channels (TV, Internet, Radio), checking the information and announcing the source is very important.

Also, it jeopardize the credibility of traditional media. They are supposed to be professional and therefore, to make sure the information is true prior to announce it (something that on the Internet is not assured).

What do you think about it? Do you think information source and veracity might become one of the great issue in our information based society?

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