Valleywag got people talking on Monday when it reported that Steve Jobs had entered Stanford Hospital for an operaton. But, as Ed Oswald of Technologizer.com explains, the scoop — which nobody else has been able to corroborate — was based on a third-person account of what a Stanford Hospital employee supposedly said at a party. Oswald writes:

While I do side with those saying that Apple should be more forthcoming with Jobs’ condition, shoddy reporting is shoddy reporting. I have a single golden rule for “scoop” journalism. Anything I get must come from a direct source with exact knowledge of what they are telling me. No friend of a friend stuff.

Remember Whisper Down The Line? Remember how often things get messed up on the way? Exactly.

(Photo credit: AP)