Dear Readers,
Prop 8 was not overturned in court yesterday. There was a Prop 8 hearing yesterday, and we’re anxiously awaiting the results, but no, California same-sex couples cannot get married now. And yes, your Twitter and Facebook streams told you it was and they could. As did an NBC reporter in Ohio.
One of the worst aspects of social media is the herd aspect. I know, we’ve all done it. See a story via Twitter or Facebook, get excited — or angry — and forward it off to our thousands of intimate followers.
But news is like packaged food — it comes with a date, and far too few actually bother to check before consuming.
Yesterday in my Twitter stream I saw this awesome Huffington Post story: “Prop 8 OVERTURNED: Gay Marriage Ban Struck Down In California.” Of course I was surprised and then checked to see who wrote it. Sam Stein. Must be true, my mind said, until I checked the date: “First Posted: 08/ 4/10 06:16 PM ETÂ Updated: 05/25/11 06:15 PM ET”
Of course, this morning my fiancé exclaimed, “Prop 8 was overturned?” Right away I knew he was reading that same old story — this time from his Facebook feed.
Earlier this morning, checking the headlines I read, “Gay Marriage Ban Overturned In California.” And, of course I checked.
This time, it was a story posted at 5:43 AM by a local NBC News affiliate in Northwest Ohio, NBC 24, written by Joe Galli.
Fortunately, a reader in the comments section already had lambasted the reporter for reporting the ludicrous story, including a statement by Governor Schwarzenegger, and the line, “Opponents of gay marriage are going to start the Appeal process today.”
Really?
If you’re a reporter, even if you’re not up on there Prop 8 twist and turns, why don’t you know that Arnold is no longer Governor of California? That’s kind of  basic. Especially since the reporter, as it turns out, just moved to Ohio from… California.
Later, the headline was changed to read, “Appeal process starts on Calif. gay marriage ruling,” with the addendum, “Editor’s note: Story revised to reflect current event in case.” Both, still false!
(Full disclosure: I emailed the reporter and demanded he pull the piece. He didn’t.)
The point here is we all need to be smart consumers of news, and check the date before consuming.
As for the future of Prop 8, well, yesterday’s court hearing seemed like it might be ruled in our favor, but I won’t hazard a guess until I know the facts.