As some of you may know, Fox News and the Washington Times Insight Magazine online edition reported that Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, attended a madrassa, a conservative Islamic school, when he was a kid and his family lived in Jakarta for a time. Further, the source of this information, they said, was connected to...the Hillary Clinton camp (another Democratic presidential candidate, of course). It's all balderdash. Obama is a Christian (if it even matters, and it shouldn't) and he attended a public school.

There was a good analysis of media's role in reporting these lies here and here. I realize that responsible journalists probably do "agonize" over what they print, and yet I feel that those who did report the lies, including the Chicago Tribune, are copping out when they say they must report "common knowledge," as the Tribune's Public Editor said.

What are your thoughts on this? I do agree with one comment in the editorial: "It also is a sign of the growing indifference Internet 'journalism' presents on the question of truth. Rumor is good enough. Bibles of blogging are created based on nothing more than rumor." As they say, we need to be very careful about what we read on the Internet.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

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As they say, we need to be very careful about what we read on the Internet.

I always try to check my facts by looking at various different sources. Anyone can post anything on the internet and I tend to ignore such things as blogs (I've never even posted to one) giving them no more credence than I would the average pub conversation.

Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, attended a madrassa, a conservative Islamic school, when he was a kid and his family lived in Jakarta for a time

Why, just yesterday, I read about this silliness online at Snopes. It's currently one of the 25 hottest urban myths of the Web. I'm still waiting for the so-called liberal media to retract its story that the French government gave diplomatic passports to Sadam Hussein and his top fellow criminals to get out of Iraq.

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I tend to ignore such things as blogs

Well, I wouldn't go that far. Take the Language Log, for example...it's one of the best sources of language information around. While I like Bierma's columns on language, much of his material is either taken from or verified at Language Log. There are good blogs, but like anything else, one must be discerning and read with a critical eye. Just because something is written, doesn't mean it's true.

Yes, z, I laugh, too about the so-called liberal media.

There are good blogs, but like anything else, one must be discerning and read with a critical eye.

I find that Sturgeon's Law applies equally well to blogs, wikis, newspapers, radio and television shows, the oracular pronouncements of various people, and books. I've always felt that learning the precepts of critical thinking is a good foundation for any education.

I had never before realised that Sturgeon was born Edward Hamilton Waldo. Of course, Waldo is another famous science-fiction term - not yet as well-know as "robot" but certainly quite well-known.

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Waldo is another famous science-fiction term

Coined from a robot of that name in an eponymous story by Robert A. Heinlein. Incestuous lot these SF authors!

I thought Waldo was just the guy everyone is looking for.

There is a definition here: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Waldo