Why verification matters, even on social media
What may seem like a statement expressing a controversial viewpoint might actually be an abstract joke, a New York Times reporter found.
Daniel Victor saw that a New Yorker named Travis tweeted about long lines to vote:
Went to vote but the line was too long so I left, just as our Founding Fathers intended.
— Travis Huggett (@travishuggett) September 10, 2013
Victor had a couple of options, one of which included blindly embedding the tweet in a story about long lines at polling places. Instead, Victor reached out to Travis, who told him it was a joke. Victor got to save face and tell the joke’s author that the line “wasn’t bad.”
Well played, Daniel Victor.
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