Boner Candidate #1: WANNA SEE THE CRASH FOOTAGE? IT’S REALLY GUESOME.
A deceiving video claiming to show the helicopter crash that killed nine people, including Kobe Bryant and his daughter, is spreading across social media. The deceptive video shows a chopper spinning out of control before bursting into flames. However, the footage is actually that of a chopper that clipped the Ras al-Khaimah wire near Dubai in 2018. The four crew members on board of that helicopter were all killed in the fiery crash. The unrelated footage is creating outrage promoting calls for the video to be taken down. Kobe Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, were killed in a helicopter crash Sunday morning in Calabasas. The former Los Angeles Lakers star is among nine people who died in the crash.
Boner Candidate #1: WELL, YOU WEREN’T WRONG BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU WERE RIGHT.
The gossip and celebrity news site TMZ was first with the news that Kobe Bryant had died Sunday in a helicopter crash near Calabasas, Calif. The report was so early, in fact, that many social media users questioned its accuracy. TMZ wasn’t wrong. Mr. Bryant was killed along with eight other people, including his 13-year-old daughter. But that didn’t spare TMZ from criticism even after the news was confirmed: Alex Villanueva, the Los Angeles County sheriff, said at a news conference on Sunday afternoon that the authorities had not contacted Mr. Bryant’s family before TMZ published its report. “It would be extremely disrespectful to understand your loved one has perished and to learn about it from TMZ,” Mr. Villanueva said. “That is just wholly inappropriate.”
Whenever a big story breaks, news organizations have to gauge how fast is too fast. For reports on tragedies, journalists face the issue of whether or not to put their drive to be first above sensitivity toward victims and members of their family. With the breakneck pace of reporting ushered in by digital media, reporters looking to be first also put themselves at risk of publishing or broadcasting false reports, a pitfall that was in evidence as journalists competed to confirm the death of the 41-year-old basketball star so famous that he went by one name.
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