Popular recent searches on Google include "why does Oprah hate people with cerebral palsy?" and "why does Oprah hate the disabled?". When I first heard of this, I assumed it was just another ridiculous, trumped up celebrity scandal. But after numerous people emailed me about it, I decided to find out what all the fuss was about.

Three hours of trawling the internet later, I was no closer to getting to the bottom of one of the more bizarre media scandals of the year. But it did impart an interesting lesson for the media about the growing power and influence of online communities.

Talkshow host Oprah Winfrey has been drawn into a scandal of alleged online vote-rigging.

The story is this. Earlier this year Oprah announced a competition titled "Your OWN Show: Oprah's Search for the Next TV star". When auditions closed on June 26, more than 9500 online videos and more than 6100 contestants, who came to open casting calls, had applied for the opportunity to become the host of a new reality series to be aired on Oprah's network.

Five of the 10 finalists were to be decided through an online poll and more than 143 million votes were cast. Before long, Zach Anner — a young man with cerebral palsy — had become the voters' darling, racking up more than 9 million votes, putting him squarely in the lead.