At least a half dozen news outlets incorrectly reported that someone had been arrested in the Boston bombing yesterday, including respected news outlets like CNN and the Associated Press, and not-as-respected outlets like Fox News. Turns out, they were all wrong. Not only hadn't there been an arrest, they still haven't even identified the suspect.
The FBI released a statement chastising the reporters, which is a pretty rare slap down from the FBI.
I know this is all part of the "we've got to report this first" mentality, and that's always bothered me, but I do have some sympathy for the reporters in question too. This was CNN's official statement: "CNN had three credible sources on both local and federal levels. Based on this information we reported our findings. As soon as our sources came to us with new information we adjusted our reporting."
A reporter is only as good as his or her sources. The mistake here is obviously identifying someone as "credible" who clearly was not. I think the fact that three different sources told them the same thing is a story in itself. How in the world did that happen?
