The problem with online news today is the question of “newsworthiness.”

I always question my self when I am about to write about something or give my opinion on a certain topic. I question myself with: Is this actually real and if it is where did the original post come from or who is the original poster?

Obviously I reacted and wrote to soon on the most recent wikileaks hoax; fortunately, I reacted just as fast to remove my response to the hoax. Who wants to be apart of that? Even on Facebook and other social networking sites that post fake amber alerts (yes, these have happened), I would research key words in the fake posts/hoaxes.

Unfortunately, because this source said it was the original poster and failed to include an editor’s note, I trusted them. This creates a problem for that news source. It’s readers, if they want to be informed readers, will question whether the source is reliable or question the accuracy of the story on a repeated basis.

Not only does this experience make me want to be even MORE aware, it makes me really angry. I have never posted a link or a response to an Aboriginal news source article until that article. This makes me upset because I have very little trust in Aboriginal news sources and now I have almost little to no trust. Am I to blame? Yes. I should have taken the steps to insure the story was accurate.

I know there are some great journalists or reporters out there but the creation of a hoax originating from an Aboriginal news source (well known or not), in my opinion, makes other Aboriginal news sources look bad (and that makes me equally unimpressed as upset with the source).

I hope that this news source learns from this experience to realize that if they are going to post a “humorous/untruthful” story, they should make a note of it.