Another casualty of shootings

[Commentary] Many say we need a post-Newtown “national conversation” about gun violence. We do. While we’re at it, let’s soul-search about the fact that the instantaneous spread of misinformation after mass killings is becoming almost as frequent as the massacres. And some of our leading media institutions are culpable.

Something has to be done about this problem, too. Calling for restraint on the flow of information — even, perhaps, self-restraint — might make me as popular with my media brethren as a gun control advocate in the National Rifle Association. Like gun enthusiasts, we journalists have our very own section in the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment. And, not unlike the Second Amendment crowd, we tend to view complaints about misuse and abuse of our favorite freedom as a threat to it. Just as the revolver has given way to the rapid-fire Glock pistol, modern technology enables the media, our sources and our audience to communicate, accurately and inaccurately, with breathtakingly sudden impact. Journalism doesn’t need new laws to adapt — just a genuine rededication to the values of accuracy, skepticism and prudence with which we already claim to operate. No more excuses. Among the reputations we save may be our own.