It must be true - I read/saw/heard it in the media...

But seriously people do believe what they read or hear in the media, as though it's gospel. Even if the story turns out later to be wrong, they've already 'spread the word' to goodness knows how many people - especially if they're a Facebook and Twitter fan...

This was particularly relevant this week with conflicting reports of an arrest following the dreadful bombings at the Boston Marathon, which not only killed three people but left countless others severely injured. On Wednesday, depending just where you got your news, you would have read that an arrest had been made or not...

AP (Associated Press) news agency were reporting, with varying details, that a suspect had not only been arrested but was on his way to the federal courthouse, whereas his colleagues over at major US news channel NBC were saying this absolutely had not happened. So who do you believe?

Blown up - and guilty, naturally

Many people, having heard there was a young Saudi man, who himself was injured in the attack, had already labelled him a terrorist and thought it was just a matter of time before he gave up his compatriots... Sorry for anyone from the Middle East who happened to be hanging around Boston this week!

Like other American bombings this could just as easily be the work of any crazy right-wing group trying to prove some senseless point.

The latest news does in fact say they do have photos and video that may help with a description of the bombers - but that's it for now - no less and no more.

So what does this say about the state of the media? What happened to the old ethics of having three independent sources confirming a story before you went to press?

Today it's a fierce war of economics - being the first to break the big story, no matter what the risk it seems. AP probably won't lose too many followers and NBC won't pick up too many new followers for their honesty either. The point is they're both following the worldwide media trend of sensationalism at almost any cost.

And then there's Oscar...

Let's look at own home-grown scene. There's the upcoming Oscar Pistorius case set down for June sometime. Whether he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by mistake or not remains to be seen but every day from now to the actual trial his every move will be watched and then interpreted by whoever was on the scene and told someone, who told someone else and eventually got into the media - fifth hand or more.

He'd been drinking - he'd been flirting - he'd been cocky - he looked guilty... You name it they'll print it. This is what sells newspapers and magazines. Are the stories factual? Well, as the old saying goes "why let the facts get in the way of a good story."

As a journalist and someone who has trained journalists for many years, this type of journalism isn't something I'm proud of and is something I've tried very hard not to instil in those I've taught. But it's there and the bottom line is that readers must learn to become more discerning and know that just because it's in the media doesn't mean it's necessarily true!