Oops… Media Retracts Arrest Claim

Gary Levin reports in USA TODAY:

It was a dramatic exclusive: At 1:40 p.m. ET, CNN reported that authorities had identified a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three and wounded more than 100 Monday.

Six minutes later, the cable-news network reported an arrest had been made, thanks to surveillance video from a Lord & Taylor department store near a sidewalk spot where one of the bombs had been planted, identifying a suspect. Fox News also reported an arrest, and so did the Associated Press, whose bulletin was picked up by several news sites, including USA TODAY, which sent a news alert sourced to the wire service.

The Boston Globe said an arrest was “imminent,” though CBS and NBC, citing sources, insisted there was no such development.

And within an hour the faulty reporting had been retracted entirely, with CNN correspondents John King saying merely that “we believe there has been substantial progress made in the investigation.”

In a statement, spokeswoman Barbara Levin says “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.”

And the FBI issued a statement that “contrary to widespread reporting, no arrest has been made,” noting that the past few days has seen “a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate.”

The reporting of an urgent story is fraught with peril, and every outlet seeks a competitive edge. But recent incidents have reinforced the danger of unchecked reports.

During the immediate aftermath of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings, Ryan Lanza was misidentified as the culprit (it was his brother, Adam, who pulled the trigger). And Monday, the New York Post reported 12 deaths in Boston, when authorities had confirmed only two (adding a third victim later).