AFP journalists prohibited from using Facebook, Wikipedia as sole sources

After a spoof site on Facebook fooled a number of news outlets, the London bureau of the French Press Agency (Agence France Presse – AFP) has prohibited reporters from using Facebook or Wikipedia as independent news sources. Journalists may still utilize information gleaned from online or “virtual” sources, but such information must be fact-checked in other, “more reliable” sources.

The incident that triggered the move was a fake profile of Benazir Bhutto’s son—Bilawal Bhutto Zardari—on Facebook. A number of major news outlets, including the London Telegraph, Canada’s Globe and Mail, and the aforementioned Agence France Presse all quoted portions of the fake profile in articles. The 19 year old son of the assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is a student at Oxford University. He was recently named as the replacement party chairman to the Pakistan Peoples Party.