[By Liu Rui/Global Times]

On December 6, Chinese netizens were shocked to read that Jin Yong (Louis Cha), a respected Hong Kong-based writer of wuxia (fantasy martial arts stories), had passed away.

The "news" was quickly spread on microblogs and through some social networking websites like Renren.

Then hours later, it was confirmed that Jin Yong was still alive by some acquaintances of his via microblogs. This lead to the resignation of China Newsweek magazine's deputy editor and a Web editor because they forwarded the rumor without doing proper fact-checking.

If this kind of "news" is published on a monthly magazine, clarification usually needs a month; if on a daily newspaper, correction can only comes out one day later. However, the situation on microblogging is another picture entirely, which clearly shows that the information flow is surprisingly fast, and hours can make a difference.

As microblogging creates a public platform for people to communicate and express ideas, helping people get updated information immediately and allowing them access to many sources of information, it seems that microblogging can correct itself. Yet, an often-neglected fact is that the credibility of information cannot be guaranteed because of the absence of gatekeepers.

Since Jin Yong is a famous novelist, it is relatively easy to check the credibility of this "breaking news." But what about other news related to figures without his reach, who may not be able to so easily correct mistakes? How can we ensure authenticity and who can take the responsibility?

A real-name identification system has been applied to the registration of microblogging. However, it is only a name, without further information. Somebody else can easily substitute for the registered person to update blogs easily, since there is no checking system.