Thread by @Justin_Ling

This is a perfectly valid and useful point, but I kind of take issue with this being journalistic malpractice.

The 'ghost of Kyiv' and Putin's mountain lair — both tales were challenged by journalists. Did some big names share it? Sure. But few media outlets did.

https://twitter.com/iD4RO/status/1499009534173618177

The Snake Island situation is really tough: We know that Russia did shell the island, so there was valid reason to believe there had been casualties. Russian channels had been sharing images of the captured sailors — but those channels can be incredibly hard to trust.

There's going to be a certain level of mistakes made in the fog of war. Media also reported Russia's claim that it had knocked out Ukraine's air defences — turns out we were wrong to take Moscow at their word. Best you can do is correct the record and move on.

Of course @iD4RO is right that we're more likely to believe information from a side we identify with. Which is why giving the tires of pro-Ukrainian info an extra kick is worthwhile.

But also, we need to stop thinking that the fight against mis/dis-information is about fact-checking every single incorrect thing online. (I've been saying this for years.) You can't correct every meme or tweet — and yet we keep trying. Some misinformation is harmless.

Obviously @iD4RO is right that there's a double-standard in how we report on this conflict versus, say, Yemen. That bears some reflection on.

But I'm not sure there's some deep problem of us regurgitating Ukrainian disinformation.

I should add: Sometimes there's utility in fact-checking random tweets:

https://twitter.com/iD4RO/status/1497957900534403084

Coincidentally, I was on CTV this morning talking about exactly this. ctv.ca/shows/ctv-your…