"WE begin with Hillary Clinton’s death." So said a New York news anchor this week, who slipped up when he opened the six o’clock news.

Hillary Clinton isn’t dead, of course, he interspersed the word “health” with “death” accidentally, but given the hyperbole and wild, unfounded speculation this week, it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if certain sections of the media had her and six-feet under.

Clinton had pneumonia. It sounds dramatic, yes, but she was fine. Really, it was a bit of a chest infection that a few antibiotics and a lie down would sort out.

But it made global news, instantly, in part because there was a video of her staggering as she stepped into a waiting car, after having to leave the 9/11 memorial service early.

Tough as old boots, Clinton had hidden her diagnosis from all but her closest aides and family and continued on the campaign trial. What followed was a slew of blatant speculative nonsense from every media outlet obsessed with a crumb of weakness in the Democrat camp.

They seemed to temporarily forget the fact Trump has white supremacists on his staff, set up a foundation to take the credit for other people’s generous donations to charitable causes, and refuses to show his tax returns. No they focused instead on Hillary’s health.

Why had she not disclosed her illness? Why hadn’t she been transparent? Is she hiding some more serious illness?

Each and every news story, numerous reporters trying to find the slightest new and bizarre angle on the tale, all accompanied by the “stumble” video.

Media businesses love these kind of videos. Broadcast, obviously because it fits in their format. Newspapers because every time someone watches a video on their website the cash tills ring and it can be shared on social media.

And in the Twitter news age, where stories are broken online before you have time to sneeze, there is an obsession with getting things first, getting a new angle on the story, getting as many hits as possible, and not only that, but growing hits constantly.

Everyone is a journalist now. Social media gives every one of us a huge audience. Anyone who does a bad turn can be castigated all over Facebook, shared to the point of “viral”, all across the world.

But these misdemeanours are told from one point of view. Sometimes they are completely made up. Often those who are publicly Facebook-flogged have no right of reply – if they try to defend themselves, it just encourages even more abuse.

It frustrates me when I see my Facebook contacts sharing horror stories from websites I’ve never heard of, with badly-written, unchecked stories designed simply for the “shock and share” value.

Even more important, then, for the mainstream media outlets not to get carried away. Being first with the news is important for us – it always has been. But being first and being correct is even more important. People are working out that “click bait” isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.

Being professional, correct, and offering both sides of the story is what will endure. We don’t always get it right, but we usually do. Citizen journalism and click bait has a place, but it should not replace accurate, fact-based news.