Two or three hours ago, the Internet was awash with obituaries and tributes to the B-Movie actress Julie Strain, including an obit on the website for Hollywood Reporter. Within the hour, friends of hers were posting messages on social media that it was not true, saying that Ms. Strain, who has been quite unwell for some time, had not passed away. Hollywood Reporter and other sites are now retracting their stories.
It's something to keep in mind. In the old days of news reporting — that is to say before the Internet was as developed and expansive as it now is — news stories took many hours to reach all the places where one might read or hear them. Now, it takes like a minute and a half…though the corrections seem to talk a lot longer to reach all their destinations or even get noticed.