Are social media sites reliable for obtaining credible information?

For the purposes of this blog I logged onto facebook to see what I could learn and ran across a re-posting with the comment, “Why isn't this on all the radio and TV stations?”  I wondered what could be so upsetting.  I then notice an image of an african american male and he is accused of killing someone. 

Ahhh, I have figured this out – this is a hoax to get people to click on the link and infect their computers all in search of some inflammatory racist event on the heels of raw emotions coming out of Ferguson, MO. As I am on my work computer, I roll the dice and decide to take the gamble that work has enough virus protection for me to learn more.

Here is the byline:

Suspect says he murdered New Jersey teen as revenge for U.S. military killings in Middle East:...

Ali Muhammad Brown is accused of killing a 19-year-old in New Jersey and three men in Washington...

m.nydailynews.com

I immediately assume this article is baseless sensationalism based on the link – it starts with a “m” and then is followed by what sounds like a legitimate source (virus creators are clever). The author is Meg Wagner, perhaps  Meg is the “m” and that makes her the  author/owner of the link and article. The article is dated 21 August with no year – I quickly determine that this is citizen reporting at its finest!  She even references such fine sources as NJ.com (which I was afraid to click on for fear of virus). I can only assume that I now actually have a virus on my work computer.

But then I decide to be as accurate as possible and google the name of Ali Muhammad Brown and discover that News 12 New Jersey (http://newjersey.news12.com/news/ali-muhammad-brown-suspect-in-brendan-tevlin-murder-accused-in-2-seattle-murders-1.8973456) has an article that was updated on August 5, 2014. I then start to wonder, could this be a real event? However, I cannot report the author’s name or relevant information as the site states that this “This content is exclusive for Optimum, Time Warner, Comcast, customers with access to News 12” only. Nor can I ascertain the legitimacy of this article because of the media stranglehold by a corporate few.

So I then search the victim’s name, Brandan Tevlin, and discovered that a cloud based radio show – 99.5 PLJ discussed the tragedy. https://soundcloud.com/#wplj/955-plj-todd-show-brendan-tevlin-wplj  and a social media news feed called heavy.com (http://heavy.com/news/2014/06/brendan-tevlin-shot-dead-west-orange-new-jersey/) published an article entitled Brendan Tevlin: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, by Matthew Guariglia, on June 27, 2014, that outlined the tragedy.

I read the article and there is a phone number for witnesses to call; I verify the phone number in the article and it does indeed go to the Esssex County Prosecutors Office. I also verified that Matthew Guarilglia has written several articles on current events at local and national levels. I am suddenly saddened that this is indeed an actual, awful, senseless, horrible event in our world. What I thought was an illegitimate piece of news reporting takes a sad turn and becomes true. My heart hurts for the family that lost their son, and I too have to think, “Why isn't this on all the radio and TV stations?” or rather "Who decides which murders the public at large get exposed to and which get buried in social media reporting?"