A regional daily editor has warned about the dangers of social media after a Twitter blunder about the birth of the royal baby was picked up by a national newspaper.
In all the excitement after the birth was announced, Northern Echo editor Peter Barron mistakenly tweeted that the Duchess of Cornwall had given birth to a boy, rather than the Duchess of Cambridge.
Despite rapidly deleting the tweet, it was highlighted in yesterday’s Metro newspaper in a section about congratulations which had appeared on Twitter, with the national title adding “That was news to Camilla…”.
Peter has now blogged about the dangers of social media following the blunder.
In a blog post yesterday, he wrote: “If ever there was a salutary lesson in the dangers of social media, I have learned it today.
“Last night, in the mad rush to break the historic news of Kate delivering a future king, I got my duchesses in a twist.
“I reported on Twitter that the Duchess of Cornwall had given birth to a baby boy, weighing 8lbs 6ozs. I have nearly 8,000 followers but, fortunately, Prince Charles isn’t one of them (yet).
“It should, of course, have been the Duchess of Cambridge and, despite deleting the tweet within seconds, my royal gaffe has today made it into print in the Metro newspaper.”
He added: “As a father-of-four myself, I am, naturally, delighted for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. They have much to look forward to.
“I am also very pleased indeed for Prince Charles that he doesn’t have to go back to changing nappies and getting up in the early hours to dispense the gripe water.
“The lesson to be taken from all of this is that social media is a wonderful, modern way of spreading news rapidly – but it still requires the old-fashioned journalistic discipline of checking the facts. I, therefore, consider myself to have been well and truly disciplined.”
Peter said that his ‘only consolation’ was hearing that an unnamed radio reporter had also made a mistake in telling listeners that the birth would be formally announced by ‘eagle’, rather than by easel.
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I recall a reporter telling me once they’d picked up a story about a young driver who’d suffered fatal injuries in a car crash. The reporter doorstepped the young woman’s mum who was horrified as this was the first she’d heard of her daughter’s death. Turns out the girl had suffered facial injuries.
So Peter, no harm done this time! Camilla would have chuckled, I’m sure.
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Not sure this headline says what it means
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With all due respect to Peter, I’m pretty sure his Twitter followers wouldn’t have been relying on him to break the news about the Royal baby, even if they cared – the world and his oyster were banging on about it every second of the day!
It’s yet another reason for keeping well away from Twitter and its ilk.
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What a Tweet – well said…my thoughts exactly.
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Laugh it off Peter. You’re still one of the best regional editors in the UK.
Jean K
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