[eweissenbach]

It is clear just how much misinformation was originally disseminated. It is sickening how news and quasi news sources, in an effort to "get the scoop", will jump to conclusions.

Reported as fact:

The killer was Ryan Lanza - Wrong, it turned out to be Adam, Ryans younger brother - I saw this reported on the internet with his picture no less! To CNNs credit they did not report the name until it was confirmed

The mother, Nancy was a teacher at the school - Wrong, she apparently may have been a sub or an aide, but we don't even know that yet.

The mother was killed at the school in her classroom along with her kindergarden students. Wrong

Originally reported that children killed ranged from 6 to 10. - Wrong all were 6-7 year old kindergardners, I am sure that caused unnecessary panic for the parents of the ten year olds in the school.

The children were killed with handguns, the bushmaster rifle was found in his car. - Wrong - The coroner reported most, if not all, were killed with the rifle, apparently they are now reporting that the gun found in the car was a Russian shotgun, but who knows.

I am sure there were other erroneous reports in an effort to scoop the competition, but these are the ones I recall. I don't know how to remedy that, but it certainly causes people to jump to conclusions based on faulty information in the beginning. It might be prudent to just come on and say "there reportedly been a shooting in ........ and we will offer details as soon as they are released by the authorities". God bless the families of the victims and may the victims rest in peace.

[2BNTV]

Thanks for setting the record straight. I'm sure more information will follow.

Very sad day as there are so many funerals in Newtown.

Thoughts and prayers to all victims, family and freinds.

[aljetmet]

I agree lots of bad info was coming out on Friday.

Nevertheless it was such a senseless tragedy that I know all three of my little grandbabies were squeezed extra hard Friday and Saturday morning.

[2BNTV]

I just read Adam Lanza smashed the hard drive of his computer to make it harder to investigate why this happened. The FBI is trying to put it back together.

[Justjac]

Originally Posted by eweissenbach

It is clear just how much misinformation was originally disseminated. It is sickening how news and quasi news sources, in an effort to "get the scoop", will jump to conclusions.

Reported as fact:

The killer was Ryan Lanza - Wrong, it turned out to be Adam, Ryans younger brother - I saw this reported on the internet with his picture no less! To CNNs credit they did not report the name until it was confirmed

The mother, Nancy was a teacher at the school - Wrong, she apparently may have been a sub or an aide, but we don't even know that yet.

The mother was killed at the school in her classroom along with her kindergarden students. Wrong

Originally reported that children killed ranged from 6 to 10. - Wrong all were 6-7 year old kindergardners, I am sure that caused unnecessary panic for the parents of the ten year olds in the school.

The children were killed with handguns, the bushmaster rifle was found in his car. - Wrong - The coroner reported most, if not all, were killed with the rifle, apparently they are now reporting that the gun found in the car was a Russian shotgun, but who knows.

I am sure there were other erroneous reports in an effort to scoop the competition, but these are the ones I recall. I don't know how to remedy that, but it certainly causes people to jump to conclusions based on faulty information in the beginning. It might be prudent to just come on and say "there reportedly been a shooting in ........ and we will offer details as soon as they are released by the authorities". God bless the families of the victims and may the victims rest in peace.

Yellow journalism at it's worst.

Today's media, whether it's newpapers, television or radio, doesn't give a darn about the facts...it's who breaks the story first.

As a former editor, I hang my head in shame...

[Cantwaittoarrive]

It use to be before news was reported as news it would have to be confirmed from multiple sources. now it seems in the rush to be the first to report they talk and confirm later

[KayakerNC]

Originally Posted by Justjac

Yellow journalism at it's worst.

Today's media, whether it's newpapers, television or radio, doesn't give a darn about the facts...it's who breaks the story first.

As a former editor, I hang my head in shame...

But....the news station that waits until all the facts are verified, is NOT the news station that will be watched.
Breaking news is breaking news.
And, we are the watchers.

[blueash]

Please, teachers and children were slaughtered and your gripe is that the media didn't get the details right? On behalf of all the media I apologize to you for any mistakes made on that horrible day.

[Shimpy]

I have never understood the idea of "scooping other networks". What the hell do I care if NBC got the latest news 1 minute before CBS? Chances are most people didnt hear it until several hours later anyway. AND, if NBC did get the story first by 1 minute would that make me want to watch them over other networks? As we have learned in the past, the first details given to us is almost always wrong.

[eweissenbach]

Originally Posted by blueash

Please, teachers and children were slaughtered and your gripe is that the media didn't get the details right? On behalf of all the media I apologize to you for any mistakes made on that horrible day.

If you are implying that because I complained about the media coverage of such events, I am not sympathetic to the teachers and children, I find your post offensive. The media reporting the name of the brother as the killer, along with his picture was extremely, irresponsible. The reporting of 6 to 10 year olds being among those killed, thus putting the parents of ten year olds into panic was irresponsible. These were media actions that were inconscionable and I simply pointed that out. That does not infer that they were equal to the acts of the shooter by any measure, but they were toubling. If you were responsible for some of those acts by the media, I find your apology wanting, and if not I find it insulting.

[eweissenbach]

Originally Posted by Shimpy

I have never understood the idea of "scooping other networks". What the hell do I care if NBC got the latest news 1 minute before CBS? Chances are most people didnt hear it until several hours later anyway. AND, if NBC did get the story first by 1 minute would that make me want to watch them over other networks? As we have learned in the past, the first details given to us is almost always wrong.

I agree, it is basically "inside baseball", in that the only ones who really know who got it first are the insiders. All we in the public know is what is reported on the outlet we are tuned into.

[janmcn]

Originally Posted by eweissenbach

If you are implying that because I complained about the media coverage of such events, I am not sympathetic to the teachers and children, I find your post offensive. The media reporting the name of the brother as the killer, along with his picture was extremely, irresponsible. The reporting of 6 to 10 year olds being among those killed, thus putting the parents of ten year olds into panic was irresponsible. These were media actions that were inconscionable and I simply pointed that out. That does not infer that they were equal to the acts of the shooter by any measure, but they were toubling. If you were responsible for some of those acts by the media, I find your apology wanting, and if not I find it insulting.

It is understandable that people thought Adam Lanza was his brother Ryan Lanza since Adam was carrying his brother, Ryan's, ID. The press gets their information from somebody involved in the incident. They don't just stand outside and make up a name.

There is so much about this incident that is horrific, but getting upset about the accuracy of the early reporting is way down on the list. This was the worst event in this country since September 11, 2001.

[eweissenbach]

Originally Posted by janmcn

It is understandable that people thought Adam Lanza was his brother Ryan Lanza since Adam was carrying his brother, Ryan's, ID. The press gets their information from somebody involved in the incident. They don't just stand outside and make up a name.

There is so much about this incident that is horrific, but getting upset about the accuracy of the early reporting is way down on the list. This was the worst event in this country since September 11, 2001.

I didn't say or imply it was at or near the top of my list of offensive things about this incident. I was watching CNN early on, and they kept saying they were not prepared to release the name of the shooter, meanwhile I go on to yahoo.com and Ryan's name and picture are being put up for all the world to see. CNN obviously and rightly, was unwilling to put a name or picture out there because it had not been verified (a journalistic rule), while others, in their effort to be FIRST, were jumping the gun, and thus unfailrly portrayed the brother as a henious killer. If I were him, I would be getting a lawyer and suing someone for defamation. I also understand they did not "make up a name", but obviously the authorities at the scene were not ready to make a positive identification, but some reporter grabbed a bit of leaked information, and without doing their job, made it public. I am not ordinarily a basher of the media, but when it is deserved, I will point it out, and this time it is deserved. And yes, I am sickened and appalled about what this individual did and the heartache he caused and have stated so in many posts, so please don't imply that I am somehow less devastated than you because I point out some injustice in the reporting.

[gerryann]

This kind of reporting is pretty much the norm when catastrophic events happen. As others said, they are reporting only what they know. We should all by now be aware of the medias reporting issues and just realize that the real info will take a while to get out to the public. Always take the "BREAKING NEWS" as not terribly accurate initially.

[faithfulfrank]

Here is an interesting quote that was attributed to Morgan Freeman....later it was announced that it did NOT come from him. Nonetheless, it is an interesting take on the Media and this horrible tragedy;

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.
It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities.
Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way.
Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.
CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours.
Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.
You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."