Quote of the Day: What the Internet Killed

Facts: The Internet provides a cheap, if not free, publishing forum to everyone. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, except when you consider that anyone can disseminate false information. Examples of false statements gaining traction abound, from nonexistent “death panels” in the health-care-reform bill passed this year to the mistaken belief that the president is a Muslim. These days, politicians, pundits, lobbyists, and bloggers make so many false statements that more than two dozen fact-checking operations have been launched by news organizations or universities this year in an effort to stem the torrent of untruth. The best-known one, PolitiFact, won a Pulitzer Prize for its efforts during the 2008 election. — What the Internet Killed – Newsweek

It didn’t take the Internet. Think of Walter McCrone, Picknett and Prince and all manner of Shroud of Turin skeptics.