News: Mark Cuban ran an “insider’s” post about what went down in the Google-YouTube deal from an unnamed source who claimed to have second-hand knowledge from “people involved” in the Google-YouTube deal, but who openly admitted to be adding some pure speculation. To his credit, Cuban admits that he has done no fact-checking and can’t vouch for the accuracy of the post (although Cuban does trust the source).
Despite the anonymous hearsay + speculation in Cuban’s post, it has already been reported as near fact, if not fact itself, on ZDNet, Search Engine Watch, and other sites.
Analysis: I think it’s fine for Mark Cuban to blog this story with a disclaimer about its accuracy. But it seems like the old trap of telling a story to one friend, who tells it to another, who tells it to another, etc. By the time the story has traveled around, here, the Internet, it is transformed from speculation to near fact. Now that’s truthiness.