Viral video wrongly smears SDSU

As we say in the newspaper business: Get it right and make it tight.

It’s an old saying that can lead to pain and embarrassment if ignored, especially if you’re dealing with a video that just went viral on Tiktok.

We saw an example of this in recent days when some media outlets didn’t pause to check facts.

The incident began on Feb. 13 when an unidentified person posted a video on Tiktok showing four young women harassing a food vendor near San Diego State University’s Viejas Arena.

In the clip, one of the women calls the vendor a loser. And two of them touch the food he was grilling, making him angry.

A second person whose identity wasn’t clear said in a voice over, “These are their social media handles, they go to San Diego State University and they’re part of the Gamma Delta sorority. Let’s find them and hold them accountable.”

People began excoriating the women on Tiktok and on Instagram when it jumped to that platform. Some media outlets ran stories that didn’t involve much fact-checking.

Turns out, none of the women were SDSU students. The sorority’s correct name is Delta Gamma, and it wasn’t involved, either. The clip’s voice over was done by someone who modified the original video. And that original was shot by a female student from Cal State San Marcos, the university said. One current and one former CSUSM student were among the four women in the video, the school added.

The names published also were not confirmed, and at least one woman reported being misidentified.

But by then, the video had gone viral and made its impact. Days later, people on social media continued to spread it, blasting SDSU and the sorority.