Quite a few people will have caught the gossip that Miranda Kerr, the Australian model, was upset when Paris Hilton waltzed in to a Heatherette show in 2005 and chose a pink dress that Kerr was scheduled to wear on the catwalk. The organizers obliged and Kerr decided she would leave the matter to karma. Karma delivered in the form of Naomi Campbell, who wanted the same outfit, and Hilton was given the same treatment as it was reassigned to the supermodel.
   I caught the item on Channel 9 (Australia) this morning, two years after the incident (this is news?). And according to one report, the source was not the Murdoch Press or even Reuter, but Kerr’s own blog.
   In fact, nearly everyone is reporting this as an incident that happened at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show earlier this month.
   If Kerr’s blog had been the source, I was all prepared to note how blogs can be the source of news for the MSM. This presupposes that the news itself is reasonably trivial—I have noticed through experience that some “journalists” (and vain bloggers) cannot handle irony or humour more sophisticated than a fart gag. Good manners prevent me from naming them publicly.
   But as I read about Kerr posting in the ’sphere, could I find links to her official blog to double-check the article? No. Not even the places that say she blogged the item linked it.
   The reason is that I don’t think Miranda Kerr has a personal blog, at least not one that can be readily found.
   So rather than this post being about the growth of the blogosphere as a news source, it’s turning into one about gross misreporting.
   The only place that seemed to have cited and linked the correct source is Sassybella, naming Pedestrian.tv:

   I applaud Helen at Sassybella for getting her facts right and for being the only journalist (that I have found) to point out that this was a two-year-old incident—something lost on a lot of (re-)reporters this week, including the Murdoch Press.
   I also applaud my friends at Heatherette. Richie and co. could have gotten publicity out of the incident but they chose to stay mum about such matters.
   Conclusion: the blogosphere and MSM are becoming closer and closer. The good bloggers getting their facts right are few and far between, and there seem to be fewer journalists upholding traditional standards among the mainstream media. This has become a news item that has been broadcast on TV and appeared online, with everyone but Sassybella (based on my searches) getting the show and date wrong. And getting the time and place wrong is just plain negligent for a journalist.

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