Newspapers have traditionally been, and still are, content providers, whereas online news websites have been content distributors – outlets rather than sources. As this changes, traditional media must exercise extra caution.

An anti-Hillary Clinton video posted on YouTube last week demonstrated this effect, as the video quickly spread to network broadcasts such as NBC and CBS.

It turned out that the video’s author worked for a consulting firm that serviced competing candidate Barack Obama. But traditional media outlets had already widely reproduced this as ‘news’.

Online, "you essentially have a public wall where anybody can put up a billboard and say anything," says Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. "And if the wall attracts a crowd, mainstream media write about it."

The surge of online sources presents a challenge for traditional media, which must gauge the accuracy of sometimes unverifiable content.

"If something is out there and having an impact, you probably have a responsibility to report it. But you have no less a responsibility to tell me if it's believable or not," says Rosenstiel.

As the Web increasingly becomes a source for content, and traditional media become the outlets, the latter will have to exercise even greater caution before reproducing news.

Source: USA Today through I Want Media