To be fair, that's also how a lot of news gets reported in the actual media too. One forum or social media user says something interesting which then gets picked up by a bunch of smaller blogs which then in turn attract attention from well known news outlets.
It's how literal 'fake news' has gotten into the mass media. Because a bunch of smaller sites fell for a fake news site quoting a (non existent) interview from anther site, and then the likes of the Metro and Daily Mail assumed they knew what they were talking about.
And that's not even getting into industries where copy and pasting stories is seen as a 'default'. The gaming press is very easy to 'compromise' with photoshopped pictures and fake information, since everyone basically just takes their news from everyone else.
So yeah, not a social media or average Joe exclusive issue here. But one which affects the media itself.
It's how literal 'fake news' has gotten into the mass media. Because a bunch of smaller sites fell for a fake news site quoting a (non existent) interview from anther site, and then the likes of the Metro and Daily Mail assumed they knew what they were talking about.
And that's not even getting into industries where copy and pasting stories is seen as a 'default'. The gaming press is very easy to 'compromise' with photoshopped pictures and fake information, since everyone basically just takes their news from everyone else.
So yeah, not a social media or average Joe exclusive issue here. But one which affects the media itself.