Felix Salmon on Piers Morgan hoax: Not a journalistic sin to pass along rumors in the ‘new newsroom called Twitter’

Felix
Reuters’ Felix Salmon writes that many journalists are embarrassed about passing on the false rumor that CNN had suspended Piers Morgan, but they shouldn’t be. “One of the things I like about Twitter is that it behaves in many ways a lot more like a newsroom than a newspaper. … Rumors happen there, and then they get shot down — no harm no foul.” He says institutional accounts should be held to a higher standard, but “for the rest of us, we’re conversing on Twitter just like we converse in real life.” || Agree? Respond in the comments or on Twitter and I’ll post some of the reactions.
Check it out: “What we need is a lot more reporting and a lot less guessing, whether on Twitter or anywhere else,” writes AJR’s Rem Rieder. “If you haven’t checked it out, keep it to yourself – or tell your pals in an actual newsroom.” || Not so fast: “Journalists are the anchors for what is true during breaking news on Twitter, falls down if they get had by a fake account,” tweets Neal Mann of Sky News. || Job looks safe: Advertisers don’t appear to be concerned about rumors of Morgan’s involvement in hacking scandal.