Internet Tabloid, 1... Mainstream Media, 0

Score another win for the Web-based, tabloid-style, alternative media.

On March 17, The Los Angeles Times published an article titled "An attack on Tupac Shakur launched a hip-hop war." This extremely lengthy story by Chuck Philips chronicles the 1994 ambush on Shakur and the deep-seated roots of the "hip-hop war" that eventually led to his death as well as that of rival rapper Christopher Wallace, also known as the Notorius B.I.G. Of course, had that been the extent of the article, it probably would not have been considered newsworthy.

Indeed, the crux of this story was "newly discovered information," including eyewitness interviews and FBI documents, that linked rapper, designer and producer Sean "Diddy" Combs to the ass1994 assault. Of course he denied the allegations, and said he was "shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story."

Well, it turned out that Combs was telling the truth, but the proof didn't come from the mainstream media. Instead the popular Web site The Smoking Gun printed a detailed expose
titled "Big Phat Liar" about "how a federal inmate duped the Lost Angeles Times, fabricated FBI reports, and linked Sean 'Diddy' Combs to 1994 ambush of Tupac Shakur." This extensive examination was able to prove that the documents used as proof by The Times were faked.

Thus began the back-pedaling of The Times in an effort to correct its mistake and apologize for its lapse. Executive editor Russ Stanton released the following statement in apology:

We published this story with the sincere belief that the documents were genuine, but our good intentions are beside the point.

The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used. We apologize both to our readers and to those referenced in the documents and, as a result, in the story. We are continuing to investigate this matter and will fulfill our journalistic responsibility for critical self-examination.

Staff writer James Rainey was then commissioned to write a 1600-word article, "The Times apologizes over article on rapper," which now acts as a preface to the article in its original form. (Click here for the preface as well as the original article, which begins on the third page.)

I think it's incidents like this that really solidify an argument in favor of the alternative Internet press. Most people would probably not consider The Smoking Gun a pinnacle of journalistic values, but thanks to this Internet tabloid-style site, Combs has been quickly exonerated and a major misjudgment on the part of a well-respected newspaper has been revealed.

It's quite possible, even probable, that the mainstream media would have discovered that the documents were faked. However, the establishment press is slow to critique itself, as is any kind of powerful institution. Papers are not dead; blogs are not solely the future. But this symbiosis, the Web-based media keeping the mainstream press in check, seems a good indicator of the balance that could be struck in the future.