WNBC.com’s Mitchell Report misstep
Don Day December 16th, 2007
WNBC.com had what looked like a big scoop Thursday morning: the list of players that would appear in the George Mitchell steroids in baseball report later that day. WNBC.com’s story was cited far and wide - and with the muscle of one of the nation’s top local TV stations behind it, the report was trusted by most. As TheSmokingGun reports, the list was flawed - and listed more than a dozen folks that did not appear in the final report.
WNBC.com has issued a very brief correction.
TSG also points out that sports blog Deadspin released the exact same list - but with this disclaimer: that the list “could very likely be one of those Web urban legends that somehow got around.”
3 Comments Add your own
1. Dave Williams | December 16th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
WNBC issued various corrections during the day Friday, with the final, terse and lawyered correction now appearing on its web site.
Here’s one of the corrections, captured:
“WNBC.com this morning was provided with a list of ballplayer names expected to appear in the Mitchell report. We received the same list of names from two independent sources. These two separate sources both told us repeatedly that the information they provided to us was correct.
After we published the list, an MLB official informed us that there were numerous discrepancies between the list provided to WNBC.com and the final Mitchell report, which at the time had not yet been released. In order to sort out any discrepancies, we immediately pulled the list, even though our sources reiterated the list provided to wnbc.com was accurate.
After the Mitchell report was released, we learned that the list we had received contained several errors and listed several names that do not appear in the final Mitchell report. WNBC.com sincerely apologizes for providing the incorrect information in the initial list.”
Really can;t say WNBC’s a top station these days, according to the last couple years of Nielsen data.
Second, third, or fourth, depending on what demographic bucket you cite.
And the wnbc.com site, “powered” by Internet Broadcasting, is pitiful. The #1 market deserves an easy to use website. The NY Times is the one to beat here for print, WCBS-tv doesn’t have any equals for tv.
For a good radio site, CBS has two great ones - wcbs880.com … and 1010wins.com
Whole thing is … the WNBC reporter was led astray. He’s one of the best, and has usually impeccable sources in law enforcement , a few well placed attorneys, and government at all levels.
Jon Dienst’s reporting helped bring down a sleazy US Senator from NJ, Robert Torricelli.
In the words of my Irish great-grandfather NYPD cop … “move along, son …”
2. Brink | December 17th, 2007 at 6:30 am
Web “journalism:” where it is just fine to post a list of names that may be wrong, and thus smear the reputations of those on it, as long as you say it may not be true up front.
Would it have been all right for WNBC to publicize that same list if they’d said, “Of course, this might not be accurate?”
3. Contrarian | December 17th, 2007 at 11:13 am
KTVI scewerd this up, too, and here’s their ND’s raionale as to why that’s all right:
“You can take the safe route, one that is noncombative and not aggressive,” he said. “But in today’s environment, I’m not sure we have the luxury to do that. And the Fox (network) brand allows us a little more latitude. There’s a certain sense of edginess and aggressiveness.”
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