AP's 'accuracy, trust' didn't falter in false Paterno frenzy
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In a poignant coincidence, The Associated Press issued a press release Monday morning announcing the retirement of CEO Tom Curley that included this paragraph about his work in chartering AP into the digital era:
"All the while, he insisted on maintaining the values of accuracy and trust that have been a hallmark of AP since its founding in 1846. It is these news values, he said, that distinguish AP from other agencies and assure its future."
How appropriate that such a comment would be made on the "morning after" one of the media's biggest blunders in decades.
On a scale of "Dewey defeats Truman," but with considerably more emotional impact, and in a case that defines the dilemma of getting it fast versus getting it right, various media outlets last Saturday night mistakenly reported the death of Joe Paterno. AP was not one of them.
What started as a report by the Penn State student news website Onward State at 8:45 p.m. spread from one major news outlet to another in minutes. CBSSports.com seized onto the Onward State report, according to a story from CNN that assessed the situation, without directly attributing the site. Some newspaper websites, in turn, based their accounts on CBSSports, and the news then exploded when the Twitter feed @breakingnews - which has more than 3.5 million followers - linked to the CBS story.
Even at Wikipedia, according to the CNN story, someone altered the entry on Paterno, adding his date of death as "January 21, 2012."
The coach's family quickly corrected the information, but some 15 minutes had passed.
The News-Item had made a quick post to our Facebook site, citing Onward State as the source of a report of Paterno's death. But any further consideration of what to publish was hinging on one important distinction: What was AP reporting? Of course, Onward State would soon correct its mistake and the point became moot as far as Sunday's print edition was concerned. Our headline, "JoePa very ill. Early reports of death false, family says Paterno is in serious condition," I thought incorporated the various elements of Saturday night's complicated situation.
As we all now know, Paterno's death would come at 9:25 a.m. Sunday, just 12-plus hours after the erroneous report. But for digital media, that short timeframe will represent an eternity in terms of trust going forward.
Meanwhile, not only did AP not follow the mania of its media brethren Saturday night, therein exemplifying its "values of accuracy and trust," it demonstrated the organization's legitimacy and the hard work and valued connections of its reporters when it was the first news agency to accurately report Paterno's death Sunday morning.
Saturday night's embarrassment will prove a valuable lesson, but it won't be the last time digital media will take off without the truth. As has been the case since the Internet's prominence as an information tool began, newspaper companies - most of them clients of AP and most now with a print and online presence - remain the most trusted source of factual news.
(Heintzelman, editor of The News-Item, writes "The Week In News" for each Saturday edition.)
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