As CNN and NPR Both Erroneously Report Gabrielle Giffords' Death, is it Time for a Re-Assessment?

After Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head on Saturday at a rally in Tuscon, several media outlets, including NPR and CNN, announced that the congresswoman was dead. The reality, though, was that even though Giffords was in critical condition, the Arizona Democrat was alive.

At what point does freedom of the press interfere into responsible communication with citizens?

While the condition of Ms. Giffords is not entirely clear at this time, the official word from the hospital is that she survived emergency surgery and that her surgeon, Dr. Peter Rhee, is "very optimistic" about her condition.

Whatever sources that CNN and NPR were basing their reports on were clearly wrong.

As a writer myself, I began to write an article based on the word of these two reputable news organizations. I cited the NPR story and then planned to write about the immediate impact on Arizona.

While I would like to say it is a lesson learned, I do not know how else I would have handled it in retrospect. Given that I am a commentator more than a reporter, before discussing a story of such magnitude, I want to have multiple credible mainstream sources reporting it and have the story stand for a reasonable amount of time. As evidenced by the Gabrielle Giffords story, however, that is not enough.

In the case of a shooting such as this, the immediate and most tangible in light of a report on a death is saved mainly for the surviving family. But when an elected official is stricken, thoughts would naturally turn quickly to his or her constituents. There is a lot at stake, obviously, on both a personal level as well as a statewide, and even national, level.

While this story did not reach the level where it would be a security concern, would the vetting that both NPR and CNN presumably did be any different if additional lives were at stake? If, for example, there was a report of simultaneous incidents in several cities, would CNN and NPR report them as fact in the same way they did the story on Giffords? If so, could the report lead to panic and an unnecessary breach of safety?

As a nation tonight hopes and/or prays for the full recovery of Gabrielle Giffords, perhaps major news organizations such as CNN and NPR will rethink the way they report major news in time for the inevitable next big story.

CORRECTION: In an earlier edition of this story, I referred to Representative Giffords as "Christine Giffords". Her correct name is "Gabrielle Giffords". Thanks to the feedback from several readers, I realized my mistake and have since corrected my careless error.

Source:

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/01/az_shooting.html?f=most-commented-24h-5