Today was a real treat in just how screwed up our media is. It all started when CNN reported that they have a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing. That quickly changed to an arrest being made. Soon after Fox and the AP went with the same story. Suddenly, the Boston Police Department and FBI announce that no arrests have been made.
If you like roller coaster rides, then today was a big one! But instead of pulling into the station at the end of the ride, we ended up with some of our biggest names in news with a lot of egg on their face. So how does the media respond to such an utter-failure in journalism? Well, if you are Fox’s Megyn Kelly, you go on the defense and try to switch the story back to the actual bombing.
They key part is about half way through, when Kelly went on this little rant:
Listen. Right now Mark we are talking about a media story, because the media is all over the board on this. But this is not about the media. This is about someone, who unleashed hell on our citizens on Monday afternoon when people were gathering for a sporting event, trying to support their loved ones and wound up getting their legs blown off or losing their lives, and that is the story, ok, that we are trying to cover.
But the media did become the story, and that was at the hands of the….wait for it……MEDIA!
Again, instead of confirming stories, then reporting, the media jumped the gun. In a day of ratings and “first to report” mentalities, the media jumped the gun and reported inaccurate developments in a tragic terrorist event that rocked our nation this week. People, for a moment, had a feeling that justice may have come, but that was quickly taken away and disappointment returned in greater proportions because of our media’s failure.
Instead of trying to ignore what happened today, like Megyn Kelly wants us to do, instead the media organizations in our country need to take stock and realize that these type of ridiculous failures are the reason people turn to other sources to get their information. In short, the media needs to bring in some actual, journalistic standards, instead of resorting to this “jump the gun” reporting they have been engaging in for the past several years.