Journalists Must Stay on Alert Against Misinformation During Breaking News

 

By Connor Walsh
JRN 100 News Reporter

Fast breaking news creates pressure situations that can lead to reporting errors harmful to journalist and people featured in the media, as with the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing coverage when sources identified an innocent man as the main suspect.

“The natural impulse to identify the perpetrators of horrific acts as quickly as possible has often led to reporting of law enforcement efforts that swept up,” said Jeffrey Hermes, author reporting for the Neiman Lab.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution released an article by Kathy Scruggs, claiming that Richard Jewell, a part-time security guard at the scene, was the lead suspect. The article, “F.B.I. Suspects ‘Hero’ Guard May Have Planted Bomb,” caused a whirlwind in the media, and even more so, forced the Federal Bureau of Investigation to distinguish Jewell as the main suspect.

“Breaking news reporting is of most importance when it comes to the standard of truthful details as stories can either be blown out of proportion or misinterpreted through the source chain,” said F.B.I. special agent, Kimberly McCaffrey.

Unfortunately for Scruggs and the newspaper company, the information used in the story to blame Jewell was determined invalid. Hollywood films have projected Scruggs’ battle post article as a failing effort due to the burden of her ruined reputation.  

The dangers involved with breaking news reporting are abundant, and journalists need to be aware of trustworthy versus faulty sources to protect the validity of the reported event and released article. Journalists need to carefully vet sources and information in order to protect the integrity of the story and the industry’s reputation.

“Journalists cannot rely on unnamed sources and need to be careful in identifying alleged suspects,” said Maureen Boyle, the journalism program director at Stonehill College. “An interview with an individual does not make them a suspect and legitimacy is of utmost importance to achieve before using a name in an accusing article.”

Boyle used the Sandy Hook shooting as one example of misidentification as the killer had his brother’s I.D. card instead of his own. Reports straight from the field can contain errors as stories unfold and the media needs to continually update and verify.

Jeffrey Hermes wrote a report titled, “When the Media - Traditional or New - Gets a Suspect Wrong, What Are the Legal Ramifications?” in 2013, and he focused on three different accounts of possibly false accusations through media and public identification in major criminal events.

“In the wake of confusing and senseless tragedy, there is a fundamental human impulse to try to exert control over an often impenetrably chaotic situation,” Hermes said during an interview.  

Hermes described some journalists as unable to fight the urge of human nature to control a situation and press harder to be the first to break news and report a valuable story. False information can arise within the rush to produce blockbuster reports.

Crime scenes and investigations have many moving pieces, all of which can be important to a reporter looking for a story.

“Usually, there are many reporters with note pads from the larger media sources trying to understand the event while also finding information that may be leaked or sensitive in many ways,” said McCaffrey. “Fake news can arise through [small missteps in the rushed reporting process as reporters may intentionally mix up information] to make articles different and more attractive to readers and the media.”

False identification can play into racial and other stereotypes that might instigate violence or other harm. The media releasing false information can harm wrongfully identified individuals, as happened to Jewell as the notoriety ruined his life.

Jewell was identified as the lead suspect in Scruggs’ article and later confirmed by the FBI. After years of fighting the misidentification, the actual suspect was recognized causing for much dilemma as Jewell was wrongfully accused.

The Jewell controversy provides a gateway to understanding the breaking news game in reporting through the Hollywood depiction of Scruggs. She becomes the first of many reporters to release the Jewell story and is villainized later down the road because she produced the news that Jewell was a suspect.

“In a case like Jewell’s or even another [similar] study like the Boston Marathon bombings, [reporting news must align with announcements from governmental agencies to be deemed credible],” said McCaffrey. “The F.B.I certainly felt the pressure of identifying Jewell as the lead suspect when news broke that he was being looked at, and this may have damaged Scruggs the most due to the federal standards and ties of the F.B.I.”

Interestingly, false identification has become even more of a hot topic in today’s world because public engagement is used to help single out criminal individuals.

“It is debatable whether this form of communal activity is on the whole beneficial or detrimental,” said Hermes.

Hermes said that the Boston Bombing reporters and news sources acknowledged some Reddit user’s identification which led to articles from CNN and the New York Post running photographs of possible suspects. The claims from Reddit were deemed incorrect, and later on, a Twitter handle escalated and reported names of individuals who were thought to complete the horrific act, but they were also false.

“Breaking news has devalued the media over the past decade as it seems like every news station has some type of hiccup in their reporting,” said McCaffrey.

Journalists are offered a bit of leeway when it comes to breaking news reporting due to the mishaps that can happen in the exchanges of information.

“Breaking news actually offers some lenience for journalists as errors are accepted due to the nature of fast reporting, but purposeful intent cannot be determined or the author of the article could be in serious trouble,” said Boyle.

The careers of journalists rely on many factors, and in crime reporting, speed, truthfulness, and efficiency are the most key components. Journalists need to balance these important aspects, but in many instances like Scruggs’ story, the limelight makes it difficult to pass up on information that is faulty or unclaimed.   

Video: https://youtu.be/sYMvxofW2sQ