This has been weighing on my mind a bit this week, so I thought I'd get it off my chest with a Twitter thread. As you do.

Earlier this week we ran a story about South Gloucestershire Council making a new cemetery with up to 3,000 graves, in case coronavirus means more burial capacity is needed https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/coronavirus-burials-cemetery-westerleigh-crematorium-4061308

It was a straightforward story. I’d noticed some discussion on social media about a field being dug up, asked the council some questions about what was going on, and the council answered them.

After the story was published, I noticed a flood of Facebook comments, some on the Bristol Live page and others in local groups, insisting it was made up

A sample of the comments:
"Media leading the hysteria using misinformation."
"No wonder why people believe in conspiracy theory."
One guy suggested our newsgathering consists of taking a picture and “making up a story”.

This was all despite the story containing direct quotes from the council explaining it was making a cemetery and the reasons it was doing so.

It’s not the first time recently I've been left a bit dumbstruck by some people’s immediate instinct to shout a story down, often clearly without having read it.

Social media has always been a bit of a breeding ground for conspiracy theories about genuine news stories, but I’ve noticed a definite surge since coronavirus.

Maybe it’s because coronavirus is such an invisible but terrifying enemy. People are confused and upset, without a target to vent at, other than the journalists telling them the bad news.

Of course it's not nice to read that your council is making capacity for new graves. A lot of readers will be worrying for their own loved ones.

But we wouldn't make up quotes from a local authority and I don’t know of a single newspaper that would. It’s bog standard stuff, but it's what separates established media from a baseless Twitter rumour.

Actual misinformation is a growing threat to society. We’re in a time when the Government has literally had to tell people not to hold their breath because no, it doesn’t show you whether you’ve got coronavirus. Reliable media is more important than ever

Certain newspapers might not always give the press the best name, but that doesn’t mean you have to adopt a blanket loathing of all media.

It’s a tough time for all local papers at the moment, and the instinct to scream "fake news" at us is worrying and sad to see. #buyapaper