Technology spreads bad news, rumors at rapid pace

Advances in technology have made it easier to spread information faster, even if that information is sensitive or untrue.

The long-standing practice of waiting until kin has been notified of a death by officials before releasing information is being trampled by text messages and Twitter tweets that are often incomplete, inaccurate or false, reports Stephanie Collins of the Advocate-Messenger in Danville, Ky. Collins writes that when a local teenager died in a recent car crash, her younger sister, who was home alone, learned of the death through a text message before officials could notify the family.

Coroner Daryl Hodge of adjoining Garrard County told Collins: “I think the hardest thing is that people don’t take into consideration that the person might not know yet. And the other thing is they need to wait until they have the facts. So many things are said on Facebook and Twitter and they just aren’t true. And that frustrates me.”

Technology has also made it easier to spread false information, writes Todd Leopold of CNN. "There's never been such pressure to speak before one knows," science writer Jamie Gleick told Leopold. There's always been a desire to gather and disseminate news, he points out, "but never until now has it been global and instantaneous."