How Reliable is the Internet?

While many have embraced the internet for the speed at which it dessiminates information, some argue that it can also be unreliable.

Because anybody can post any information on the internet, it may be difficult to determine the credibility of some of the information online.

Check out this website that claims to be an educational site about the late American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr:

http://www.martinlutherking.org/

Well if you've read the above home page, you may be wondering how a website, dedicated to the late civil rights leader can portray him as it does. I've discovered that the website is actually set up by some white American supremacists organisation.

Its because of misleading information like this that some scholars are calling for information on the internet, particularly blogs to be regulated.

I came across this article in the media section of the Guardian newspaper that is suggesting that bloggers subscribe to a voluntary code of conduct.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,1973933,00.html

And it appears some people are taking the threat posed by misleading information online seriously. Some PR firms have started offering brand protection services to organisations. Protection from potential reputation damage that can be inflicted by blogs. This article also in the Media Guardian has the story.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/marketingandpr/story/0,,1964584,00.html

Well, what does this mean for PR? Bigger budgets perhaps - more money to protect the organisation's reputation? And probably more skills again for the practioners. But it also means that it will become increasingly difficult for organisations to protect their brands/reputations because anyone can say anything about them online.