Major Media Failures by CNN & FOX on the ACA Ruling

Mid-Afternoon Update: According to TPM’s Benjy Sarlin, it turns out that like me and millions of other Americans, the flawed reporting of CNN and FOX just after 10:00 AM this morning gave President Obama the false impression that the ACA had been struck down by the Supreme Court. It was incorrect, of course, but it shows how careless those two news orgs were in playing with the emotions of so many news consumers and citizens. I was following the unfolding drama on Twitter and on TV we had MSNBC. I saw a CNN tweet from reporting the mandate had been ruled unconstitutional, and my heart sank at first, but then–as has occasionally occurred in sports, when a final call or a buzzer beater is later over-ruled–I thought, Wait a minute, let’s see what the other networks are saying. Sure enough, within a few minutes Pete Williams, an NBC correspondent was telling the MSNBC anchor Chris Jannings that the mandate had in fact been upheld. So it goes, but when you have news orgs behaving as irresponsibly as two did today, the public is very poorly served.
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Early Afternoon Update: BuzzFeed.com‘s Michael Hastings has spoken with “about a half-dozen top on-air reporters and producers within” CNN who “are “furious” and embarrassed at their network’s blown coverage on “the most consequential story of the year.” ‘Fucking humiliating, said one CNN veteran. ‘We had a chance to cover it right. And some people in here don’t get what a big deal getting it wrong is. Morons.’ ‘Shameful,’ another long-time correspondent told BuzzFeed. ‘It’s outrageous and embarrassing,’ a third CNN staffer vented. ‘Maybe this will shake the company into understanding that CNN has not been the ‘most trusted name in news’ for a very long time.'”
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Shortly after 10:00 AM this morning, CNN and FOX jumped the gun and inaccurately reported on the upshot of the Supreme Court ACA’s ruling. I suspect this was probably done in CNN’s case out of an overzealous mania to report the news first–without insuring the report’s accuracy–and from ideological zeal in FOX’s case. Both news organizations have much to apologize for. Judging by one screenshot below, CNN has already issued a correction, no sign yet if or when FOX will do the same. Each network should also explain how the errors occurred. H/t Keith Boykin and David Folkenflik. Added: CNN not only tweeted its error, but even blared the error on its website.