The Word Trojan: Anatomy of an On-Line Story

35

Author: Andy Updegrove

Andy Updegrove writes “The Word Trojan virus is reported to have infected only two targets – but it received extensive coverage for a week. Given the limited facts to work with, journalists were left to deal mostly with “what ifs.” Tracing how the story spread illuminates how little research is actually done by on-line journalists, and how much of what is reported is speculation and make-weight journalism.”