A tale of an independent student news source and its admission of fault.
By Shaun Springfield
Mesquite Contributor
How important is it to be first? How important is it to be accurate?
These are two of the main questions that journalists around the globe face on an almost daily basis.
In today’s world of instant gratification, where anyone with an Internet connection or smart phone can read or access media sites at a moment’s notice, the need to be first is greater than ever.
We are constantly bombarded by our own Twitter and Facebook news feeds. As soon as one post is made, it’s instantly replaced by a hundred or more other “current” posts. But, the only post that really matters is that first one.
Being the first to break a major story is something all journalists strive for. There is a certain degree of satisfaction we feel when we are able to produce information that no one else has previously produced. It is our own way of saying, “Look what I’ve done. Beat that!”
In many ways, this desire is one of the greatest characteristics of a modern reporter. We all value the newshound who tirelessly follows leads and builds a strong story before any other outlet is able to snag it.
But, there is a downside to being first sometimes. This is just the situation that student reporter Devon Edwards found himself in this past weekend.
Edwards, the former managing editor of Onward State, Penn State University’s independent news site, inadvertently become the lead orchestrator of a wide spread news firestorm that falsely reported, in a single tweet picked up by other news outlets, that Joe Paterno had died.
According to Onward State, in an admission of fault penned by founder and General Manager Davis Shaver, the reporters involved in covering Paterno’s failing health last weekend received word “from a source that Joe Paterno had died. The source had been forwarded an email ostensibly sent from a high-ranking athletics official (later found to be a hoax) to Penn State athletes with information of Paterno’s passing.”
This, in addition to a second writer — whom Onward State later found out had not been honest in his information — confirmed to the editorial staff that the email had been sent to football players.
Shaver wrote: “With two independent confirmations of an email announcing his death, managing editor Devon Edwards was confident in the story and hit send on the tweet we had written, informing the world that Joe Paterno had died.”
The problem was that Paterno was still alive.
Onward State had received false information and ran with it. So did many leading news organizations around the world. Poynter.org reported Monday “the report was picked up, unattributed at first, by CBS Sports. The CBS Sports report was repeated by @BreakingNews, which has 3.5 million followers. (CBS Sports and Breaking News later apologized.)”
It took an official statement from the Paterno family and a Twitter verification by two sons of the former coach, to convince everyone that Joe Paterno was still alive. He was in critical condition, but he was not dead.
Early Sunday morning, the Hall of Fame coach lost his long battle with lung cancer. News outlets again reported his passing – only this time they did so after the Paterno family released another statement reporting the coach’s death.
While Onward State’s report of Paterno’s passing was now technically correct, the damage had already been done.
The community news site caused a nationwide firestorm through the news and social media sites. What was Edwards and OS’s staff to do in the face of this monumental error?
As most organizations are encouraged to do when they make a mistake, Onward State issued a retraction of the article and an apology to the Paterno family, Penn State University and their entire readership. Edwards himself posted an apology and resigned from his position as the site’s managing editor.
Edwards made the correct choice in voluntarily stepping down from his position. He made no attempt to displace the blame from the debacle and instead faced this disaster head on. He chose to fall upon his own sword and should be respected for that.
This is the world we live in, though.
We want our news to be presented to us as soon as it happens. We put our news outlets in this same position every second of every day but the simple fact remains: facts are facts. If you do not have all the facts, you have nothing.
Shaun Springfield is a member of the Student Media Board at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. Email: slspringfield@gmail.com
