13th European Conference on eGovernment – ECEG 2013 1 | Page 439

Rajash Rawal and Paul Nixon

Moreover, it has been suggested that this scandal syndrome we have encountered in the modern era is down to the gossip fed and gossip led rise of tabloid news.( Street, 2001). Stanyer refers to this as being the advent of‘ revelatory journalism’( 2007). Somewhat interestingly Stanyer explores how stories of yesteryear may be treated today, for example Abraham Lincoln’ s depression, FDR’ s handicap and LBJ’ s idiosyncrasies, notwithstanding the countless affairs( Stanyer, 2007).

2.2 Casualties of truth?

As the number of such websites swell, so does their influence. A non scientific poll taken among 18‐24 1 years over a three month period spanning December 2012 and February 2013 illustrates this.

We asked the following three questions:

1.“ Do you think that there is any truth in political rumour and gossip?”( Yes / No) 2.“ Does political rumour and gossip influence your decision making?”( Yes / No) 3.“ Do you believe what you read in journalists’ blogs?”( Yes / No)

The answers were

These results seem to vindicate the idea that there is no smoke without fire and that journalists and bloggers need to make sure their stories are watertight and hold firm under scrutiny given their influence. Indeed“ false accusations and rumours are unfairly tarnishing reputations”( Campbell, 2012).

However, there are a series of examples where this is not the case and either the information is totally false or at least in part. The aforementioned Paedophilia scandal in the UK is one example, as are some of the wilder accusations that abound surrounding the case of Daniel Strauss Kahn who’ s sex life was brought to the attention of online audiences in such a way that he was discredited as a serious candidate for high political office in France with films such as http:// www. dailymotion. com / video / xkmnda _ strauss‐the‐managingdirector‐of‐imfing‐you _ news or http:// www. youtube. com / watch? v = 24a‐Qb327ok

Further examples include the spread of rumour on Twitter that US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords had died from shots to the head, where indeed she was very much alive and has since made a remarkable recovery, or the news that Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina was facing tax indictments, based on malicious lies spread by a blogger.( Campbell, 2012).

Even the news surrounding the Newtown shootings in the United States in 2012 seemed to be inaccurate. Conflicting reports are inevitable when news breaks( Kayyem, 2012), but the speed with they are printed without any verification is potentially damaging credibility of information.

2.3 Conclusions

There can be little doubt that the impact and effect of political rumour mongering is made worse by the rapid pace of technological change that we are experiencing today. As the ability to transmit messages across the globe in the blink of an eye is allied to the spread and diffusion of the technological capability to do so, this aids the rise of citizen journalism. This a method of reporting that is often without even the most basic checks on the veracity of the information being posted or, perhaps most saliently in the modern age, prior to it being reposted in a viral sense. Thus, despite the efforts of people such as Lord McAlpine who have sought to bring some form of responsibility and ownership of the information transmitted at each stage of its publication it would appear that with the spread of mobile technologies and our increasing dependencies upon social networks and micro‐blogging platforms which are ever more fully integrated into our social lives that the proliferation of such damaging material is set to continue. As the notion of film and clip production and 1

Sample size 200

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