A column from our local paper

Gossip is allegedly rampant, sources say. JAY CRONLEY World Staff Columnist. We live in a world filled with sloppy gossip. Unsubstantiated rumors top the legitimate news. What is legitimate news? It used to be when somebody listed a source, a name, a real person. Now it's a source close to the White House, a source near the coroner, a source who refuses to give a name because the information is probably wrong and doesn't want to be embarrassed. Legitimate news is wrong less. Gossip has unnamed sources. Manufactured threats: So many unnamed sources are used, you halfway think that the writer or reporter is making stuff up. Sometimes the unnamed source is probably the person doing the reporting him or herself. If gossip isn't repeated, you could get left behind. And not being wrong along with the rest of them has come to be considered a weakness. Just before the 9/11 anniversary, various news and gossip organizations reported that a new legitimate terror threat existed. A reporter-slash-gossip said in one of the worst attributions in legitimate news history that the terrorist threat information came from somebody who should know. Pretty soon everybody had the alleged story. There's more "alleged" in the news business these days than there is in crime. Somebody who should know is considered to be a much better source than somebody who might know, and 10 times better than the source who hasn't known much recently. And this was frightening gossip. We find ourselves in a time when being wrong first is more desirable than being correct later. And nobody ever apologizes for big mistakes; they're on to the next gossip. Do the hustle: Sports has come to be covered like sleazy show-business scoops, with so-called journalists and junk bloggers alike racing to release wild guesses based on unheard-of sources. The mad hustle and shuffle for the best gossip has given rise to a new form of hypocrisy. If a reporter or writer doesn't like anonymous criticism, then you shouldn't make a living off unnamed or anonymous sources. Sometimes it's as if the media has competing for awards at the front of its mind. And sometimes the people can suffer for it..