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‘Here’s the truth. We don’t know’: How false reports of Boston bombing…
‘Here’s the truth. We don’t know’: How false reports of Boston bombing arrest left media outlets scrambling
Ethical Issues
The Boston Globe basically just took what CNN said as fact without doing proper research and fact-checking their claim. They then reported via Tweet.
Three news organizations, CNN, Fox News, And the Boston Globe rushed out a report that the Boston Bomber had been arrested.
CNN's John King reported the suspect was a dark-skinned male, this could have had serious repercussions with such a hyper-emotional story.
All these news stations claimed they had sources within law enforcement but none of them we able to name or confirm who they spoke with.
These organizations prioritized breaking the news first, rather than ensuring they had the correct information. This was irresponsible with such a sensitive issue.
Reaction
Anger and vivid memories, I lived in Boston at this time but was luckily not in the city that day. My sister and dozens of my friends were down near the finish line. Luckily, none of them where hurt. I remember being upset with the false reports coming out in the media.
CNN was especially irresponsible with their reporting. Being the first to break a story means nothing if the information turns out to be false.
As wrong as Fox News was, I give Megyn Kelly and them credit for walking back her statements and being honest about not knowing the truth after putting out the false report.
The Boston Globe look especially silly just regurgitating the report of CNN. The people of Boston expect more from their hometown paper.
Opposing View
These reporters and news stations were trying to get the most accurate information reported as quickly as possible.
They had sources, it just turned out that these sources did not provide them accurate information.
That was a crazy few days surrounding the marathon bombings, misinformation was flying around everywhere.
Everyone in the world wanted to know who had done this and the public demand for information is likely what led to sloppy journalism.
Opinion
I feel that while this was certainly a difficult story to cover and get all the correct facts, these news stations should have done more to ensure truthful information
I have a more personal relation to this article because I remember seeing these false reports and thinking everything was safe now because we had caught them. Only to later realize that was untrue and there would be an eventual city wide manhunt.
I believe when a story is this serious and has so many consequences when you report untrue information that you need to reasses your standards for releasing information you receive.
The reporters who provided this information on their news networks often will be remembered as the person responsible for these errors when that often is not the case. Keep in might there are dozens if not hundreds that work on a news broadcast and in this circumstance there was failure on multiple levels.
What could change?
A stronger balance between the research for this story and reporting tactics could have made a world of difference.
A question that should have been asked in research is how confident are you in your police or FBI sources?.
Have these sources given you correct information in the past? If so, are they always correct?
Are you ensuring your multiple police sources are all giving you the same information before running with the story? Or are you just running with the first lead that will provided you with breaking news and headline story?