Tech firms, newly sensitive to fake news, stopped the story circulating. Now the global media giant has roared in outrage
Media organisations shouldn’t publish allegations unless they believe them to be true, after making appropriate checks. This is a normally uncontroversial principle of journalistic practice, reflected in media law. It forms the underpinnings for the social licence to operate that allows journalists access to the powerful and the freedom to deal with confidential sources and leaked information.
Now, that idea is in play on the international stage in a stoush between News Corp and the tech platforms Twitter and Facebook.