Belief and Misbelief Asymmetry on the Internet

3Competition Serves the Truth, Excessive Competition Harms It

3.1. Michael Jackson’s son, abused by Nicolas Sarkozy

It is May 22nd 2003 and on the 8 o’clock news on TF1 a young man, Djamel, is making serious accusations against Dominique Baudis. He claims he has witnessed sex parties, held by prominent citizens of Toulouse, in which children were sexually abused and even murdered. The “Toulouse affair” is in full swing and the whole of France is buzzing with the rumor that the ex-mayor of that town has protected a serial killer, Patrice Allègre, and has engaged with him and other city notables in orgies involving prostitutes and children.

That night, the news desk of TF1 (the France 2 news desk would follow suit on the 24th) decided to give Djamel the floor during peak viewing time. For those who did not see this in real time, it is evident that these accounts resemble all those urban myths that accuse the middle class of the worst abuses. However, at the time commentators did not find this blatant at all. Rather than showing some circumspection, as such circumstances should require, and verifying the most trivial piece of information before making it public, the French media, with few exceptions, gave in to this affair without any deontological consideration.

Is there any need to recall that Djamel also claimed, off the record, that he was Michael Jackson’s secret son and that he had been sexually abused by several French ministers, not least Nicolas Sarkozy, and show business ...