A spate of media hoaxes that have entertained viewers and lit up the blogosphere have prompted a new round of hand-wringing over a news industry already worrying that it is losing the public’s trust.

Within the past two weeks, US news channels have cleared their schedules to track an oversized balloon flying across Colorado, in the mistaken belief that a six-year-old boy was trapped inside, and been taken in by a fake press conference purporting to announce a change in the US Chamber of Commerce’s stance on climate legislation.