Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Video: Prankster Jason Calacanis on His Apple iPad Twitter Hoax | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

“The rest of the story…” about last week’s speculation about dual-camera, solar-powered iPads. I’m afraid it will turn out to be more of a stark reality check than “an instructive moment” for journalism, however – i.e., I don’t think the current headlines-first, optional-facts-later news trend is going to go into reverse because of a few people highlighting the decline of traditional journalism.

But he followed up with a series of tweets on a myriad of features of the new iPad–one nuttier, pricier and heavier than the next, such as a built-in HDTV tuner, a solar recharging pad and more.

For example: “Yes, there are 2cameras: one in front and one in back (or it may be one with some double lens) so you record yourself and in front of u.”

The problem was that a few big media outfits, including CNNMoney.com and WSJ.com, posted reports on the tweets without much of a raised eyebrow or first checking on their veracity with Apple or with Calacanis.

While anyone can get caught in a prank–and this was a pretty elaborate one pulled by Calacanis, who claims he was just trying to point out how ridiculous Apple hype had become–it’s still an instructive moment for journalism.

Video: Prankster Jason Calacanis on His Apple iPad Twitter Hoax | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

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