AK’s Column: When speed outpaces truth
Op-Ed
By Antionette Kerr
There were several moments this week when my phone lit up the way it always does when something serious breaks.
A shooting tied to the White House, unfolding around the time of the White House Correspondents' Dinner, what folks in media like to call another “nerd prom.” And before the facts could even catch their breath, here it came:
“Is the victim dead?”
Not from an official source. Not from confirmed reporting.
From somebody who heard it on TikTok. Or X. Or Truth Social. Or just “somewhere online.”
And just like that, the story started running ahead of the truth.
Sometimes faster reporting isn’t better. And we keep learning that lesson the hard way.
Because what I saw wasn’t just confusion. It was people trying to make sense of fear in real time, grabbing whatever information they could hold onto, whether it was solid or not. And I get that. I really do. But intention doesn’t cancel out impact.
We just saw this play out right here at home.
A young woman from Lexington was arrested in connection with an alleged plot targeting a synagogue in Houston. Heavy. Complicated. The kind of story that requires care.But before the ink could even dry on the facts, the internet got to work.
Now all of a sudden, folks are saying maybe she was abused. Maybe she has mental health challenges. Maybe she didn’t understand what she was doing. And listen, those are serious claims. They deserve to be handled with care, if they are true.
But right now, they are not confirmed facts. They are part of a narrative forming in real time, not something established by investigators or the courts.
And this is where we have to be honest with ourselves. We don’t just share information anymore. We shape it. We add to it. We fill in the blanks with what feels right to us. Sometimes we want to soften it. Sometimes we want to explain it. Sometimes we just want to make it make sense.
But feelings are not facts.
And when young people are involved, when entire communities are impacted, when something as serious as violence is on the table, moving too fast can do real harm. Not the kind you can edit later. Not the kind you can quietly delete.
As journalists, we are taught to sit in the uncomfortable space. The space where you don’t have all the answers yet. The space where “I don’t know” is the most honest thing you can say. And let me tell you, that space is not popular.
Because the internet doesn’t reward patience. It rewards speed. It rewards reaction. It rewards whoever says it first, not whoever gets it right.
But I’ve been doing this long enough to know, getting it wrong costs more than being late. Every…single…time.
A Facebook post is not confirmation. A viral video is not verification. And just because something is repeated over and over again does not make it true.
We are all part of this now. Every single one of us.
So before you hit share, pause. Just for a second. Ask yourself where it came from. Ask yourself if it’s been confirmed. Ask yourself if you’re helping or adding to the noise.
Because right now, the noise is too loud.
And the truth, it’s still trying to make its way through it.
