Breaking and Unbreaking the News

Confusion reigns in the MSM. Well, even more so than usual, right now:

REPORT: Boston Bombing Suspect Arrested.

UPDATE: NBC now saying no. Stay tuned.

ANOTHER UPDATE: CNN walks back. Confusion reigns.

MORE: A major media malfunction. And yet journalists put down bloggers?

As Bryan Preston writes at the Tatler, “Media confusion, as CNN and Fox report an arrest, NBC and CBS report no arrest has been made. Now CNN on air is walking things back a bit. It’s the mainstream media and a developing story — caution is always advised.”

Update: “Ouch: CNN’s sloppy Boston bombing coverage inspires major mockage” in the Twittersphere, Twitchy reports.

Well, yes.

Meanwhile, a Twitter user produces the above chart to diagram the MSM’s current phase of idiocy. All will become…even less clear than usual…analyzing it.

Or as Elizabeth Scalia Tweets:

MAJOR MEDIA MALFUNCTIONS. I don’t want to hear any more about gatekeepers and “mediating intelligences” and “layers of editorial caution”.

— Elizabeth Scalia (@TheAnchoress) April 17, 2013

Indeed.™

Meanwhile, CNN puts the lower in lower thirds: “CNN’s ‘arrest’ confusion, as told by its own screen titles.”

Update: More here in a follow-up post: Old Media Botches Story, Plays Victim Card.

Speaking of which, Slade Sohmer, co-host of SiriusXM’s daily “Politics Powered By Twitter” adds:

Until “snarkers” on Twitter and online news sites see overwhelming evidence that reporters who jump the gun and misreport important stories don’t have permanent job security, there will always be people there to point fingers, mostly through obvious coping mechanisms like humor and anger.

I’m quoting him here rather than in the new post, because, regarding the artwork at the top of this item, Sohmer notes that “Ironically, the chart has one inaccuracy: We can’t find evidence that CBS ever reported definitively that an arrest had been made.”