(2002-10-04) -- First Salon withdrew unsubstantiated allegations against Secretary of the Army Thomas White. Then New York Times economics writer Paul Krugman apologized for citing the same information in a column critical of White.

Then the great purge began.

Contrite journalists, columnists, editors and bloggers worldwide have begun purging their sites of "flawed" information. As a result of the great purge, many "news" web sites now look like the cover of the Beatles' 'White Album'. With memory freed up, web servers are running faster, and the information superhighway has become the Autobahn it was meant to be.

"It hit me like a brick," said one web journalist. "If I'm going to post information that could destroy a man's life I should be able to corroborate it. It's like those quaint scenes in the movie All the President's Men where Redford and Hoffman are working so desperately to get another reliable source to confirm information. I used to think those were comedy scenes, but now I wonder."