'If the Story is Viral, Truth May Be Taking a Beating'

NYT on the phenomenon that gave us Diane in 7A and the Knockout Game:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/business/media/if-a-story-is-viral-truth-may-be-taking-a-beating.html?ref=business

"(E)ditors at these sites acknowledge frankly that there are trade-offs in balancing authenticity with the need to act quickly in a hyperconnected age. 'We are dealing with a volume of information that it is impossible to have the strict standards of accuracy that other institutions have,' said John Cook, editor in chief of Gawker(.)"

I'm also trying to figure out what separates the New York Times from Buzzfeed in the following passage:

BuzzFeed sensed the tremor in the web and posted it, attracting nearly 1.5 million views to its site. (The New York Times travel section blog also linked to their story but labeled it as imaginary when it was discovered to be untrue.) Finally, Mr. Gale revealed that the entire exchange was fake, and BuzzFeed posted an update describing the story as a lie and a hoax.