http://groups.google.com/group/alt.assassination.jfk/browse_thread/thread/517ba68f7fa7fb13
JOHN CORBETT SAID:
As if we didn't already know this, the horrific tragedy yesterday in
Newton [sic; Newtown], CT gives us one more example of how unreliable
early reports and information are in the wake of these events.
Electronic media were crawling over each other in an effort to get any
scrap of information they could and as a result, normal journalistic
dilligence went out the window. The result was the reporting of
numerous "facts" that now seem to be in serious question.
The worst was the reporting that the shooting was done by the real
shooter's brother who was at his job in New Jersey at the time of the
shooting. It was initially reported that the mother of the shooter,
who apparently was his first victim, was a teacher at the school. Now
that seems to be in doubt.
Early reports indicated a Bushmaster .223 assault rifle was used in
the attack but not it appears that weapon was left in the shooter's
car. There are still conflicting reports of how many handguns were
used in the attack. Initially it was believed that there were two but
now it seems there may have been as many as four.
What all this illustrates is how unreliable early information can be.
We saw the same thing happen in the JFK assassination and the Reagan
assassination attempt, even though 24 hour news channels weren't even
on the horizon back then. The media that did exist were just as
anxious to get information out as quickly as possible and as would be
expected, much of what was reported early on we later found out was
just plain wrong.
For some curious reason, in the case of the JFK assassination, many
choose to continue to cling to what those early reports said rather
than accept what we later learned to be true. Those who want to know
the truth will turn to the most reliable information available to them
while those that want the beliefs to be true will turn to whatever
they can to support those beliefs.
====================================================
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
Good points, John.
It was also reported that the mass murderer of the 20 little children
in Connecticut on December 14, 2012, had killed his father in Hoboken
too, which turned out to be the worst mistake of that terrible day
yesterday, bringing back memories of James Brady in 1981.
To state as fact that a person has died when they haven't is a
horrendous journalistic blunder. And it also reminds us of 11/22/63
too, when the press was reporting that a Secret Service agent had
positively been killed, even though no such agent was even wounded in
Dealey Plaza.
Although in the 1963 instance with the SS agent, it wasn't quite as
bad, since the press didn't have a name to go with the report that a
SS man had died. But I can imagine the worry and anguish that that
early report caused for the relatives of JFK's Secret Service agents
who were watching the live coverage unfold on radio or television.
In fact, in kind of an ironic twist, Eddie Barker of KRLD-TV, whose
reporting was remarkably factual and accurate for the most part (even
during the very early hours after the assassination on November 22),
was reporting in the first hour that the one thing he COULD definitely
say for certain was a confirmed fact was the report that a Secret
Service agent had definitely been killed. But, of course, that was one
of the few things Barker got wrong that day.