Boston Bombing Reddit and 4Chan Pictures Lead to Horrendous New York Post Error

Impact

Most of us already know that the New York Post is a steaming pile of waste upon which they attempt to claim that they are a reputable news outlet. Things have gone from worse to downright awful for them as they released an image of two individuals who they claimed to be “suspects.” It turns out, the two were cleared by the FBI of having any responsibility for the Boston Marathon bombing. So, just where did they get their information? Those Reddit and 4Chan threads devoted to finding the Boston Bomber. 

 

As you can see, the New York Post didn’t just run a story online about it, they printed a full page newspaper headline which prominently displayed the faces of these two men. Despite the fact that these individuals have been cleared by the FBI, the Post is, "standing behind its news story." In the article I wrote about yesterday I addressed the concern that these individuals faces could be used by the "media" or others to establish or create guilt. It has resulted in exactly what most people expected it to result in, a massive error. It’s not just a mistake, it’s a mistake with possible serious consequences for these men. 

Reddit’s r/findbostonbombers thread it now has this warning:

 

Well, it seems to be a little late for that. Is anyone really surprised that these individuals Facebook and other personal information got out? The nature of the beast of the internet is that you can't control it. As such, individuals should have probably taken a few more precautions before posting unobscured photos of the men that implicated them in the bombing. Anthony DeRosa of Reuters talked about crowdsourcing the investigation on Wednesday, he addresses additional concerns that the element of social media presents in this case. 

To be fair, the Post is the one who published the photos and called the two individuals suspects in print. Their journalistic standards have proved to be so low that they no longer deserve to have any association with the media or any news organization, as they clearly lack any refinement or journalistic integrity

Investigators are analyzing over 2,000 images. That’s about 1,7000 more than any member of the public has access to. Is it so much to ask for people and "news organizations" to be weary of whom you implicate? Apparently.