Buzzfeed: CNN News Staffers Revolt ...

[2curlydogs]

www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/cnn-news-staffers-revolt-over-blown-coverage

News staffers at the cable network CNN, long the gold standard in television news, were on the verge of open revolt Tuesday after CNN blew the coverage on the most consequential news event of the year.

As Chief Justice John Roberts began reading his decision on the future of President Obama's health care overhaul, the CNN team inside the courtroom jumped the gun, believing that Roberts was saying the individual mandate was unconstitutional and would be overturned.

A producer inside the courtroom, Bill Mears, communicated the information to a relatively junior reporter, Kate Bolduan, the face of the network's coverage outside on the courthouse steps.

Bolduan then reported, on air, that the invidual mandate was “not valid,” citing producer Mears.

“It appears as if the Supreme Court justices struck down the centerpiece,” of the law, she said.

Bolduan,a 2005 graduate of George Washington University who previously worked for a local news station in North Carolina, was named the network's congressional correspondent last year.

The 29 year old was also named one of Washington's 50 Most Beautiful people in 2011 by The Hill.

Moments after Bolduan spoke, the false story began to metastasize inside the network's online operation.

The erroneous breaking news was made into a chryon at the bottom of the screen. CNN also sent out a breaking news alert.

And a half dozen top on-air reporters and producers within the esteemed news organization told BuzzFeed they are furious at what they see as yet another embarrassment to a network stuck in third place in the cable news race, and torn between an identity as the leader in hard news and the success of their opinionated, personality-driven rivals, Fox News and MSNBC.

“Fucking humiliating,” said one CNN veteran. “We had a chance to cover it right. And some people in here don’t get what a big deal getting it wrong is. Morons.”

“Shameful,” another long-time correspondent told BuzzFeed.

"It's outrageous and embarrassing,” a third CNN staffer vented. “Maybe this will shake the company into understanding that CNN has not been the 'most trusted name in news' for a very long time."

A fourth CNN source noted simply “obviously, it’s embarrassing,” but defended legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, and stressed that it’s the challenge of breaking news.

“It looked to all the world like the chief justice was going to strike down the law,” legal analyst Toobin later said on air, seeking to explain the CNN confusion.

CNN also released a statement explaining the mistake: "In his opinion, Chief Justice Roberts initially said that the individual mandate was not a valid exercise of Congressional power under the Commerce Clause. CNN reported that fact, but then wrongly reported that therefore the court struck down the mandate as unconstitutional. However, that was not the whole of the Court’s ruling. CNN regrets that it didn't wait to report out the full and complete opinion regarding the mandate. We made a correction within a few minutes and apologize for the error."

In recent weeks, CNN had been defending its slide in the ratings by staking its pride on excellent news coverage, while criticizing Fox and MSNBC’s partisan slant.

The mistake was not missed by its rivals. Tweeted NBC’s PR director Erika Masonhall: "Important to underscore something I said at @nbcnews social media workshop last week: We'd rather be right than first."

[pixy0stix]

I'm loling that a story about news mistakes got the day wrong.

[IIOY]

One of the reporters in my Twitter feed posted a screenshot of a "mandate is overruled" headline on Fox News.

[2curlydogs]

#CNNHeadlines is now a trending hashtag.

My favorite so far "Supreme Court sides with majority of Americans and Upholds School Segregation"

[y4m]

Jun 28, 2012 11:51:48 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm loling that a story about news mistakes got the day wrong.

BWAHAHAHA

[Deleted]

I think Harpy said it best this morning

Today, Americans of all political stripes can finally unite behind one undeniable truth: CNN is clearly terrible.

[2curlydogs]

Jun 28, 2012 12:01:17 GMT -5 y4m said:

Jun 28, 2012 11:51:48 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm loling that a story about news mistakes got the day wrong.

BWAHAHAHA

HA! I just saw that! *snicker*

[sweetday]

Jun 28, 2012 11:51:48 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm loling that a story about news mistakes got the day wrong.

ha!!

[marie427]

So CNN jumped the gun and got it so wrong.

Fox News was still walking to the start line even after Kennedy was done speaking.

So how did MSNBC do? How did ANYONE do?

[Deleted]

Didn't almost all of them get it wrong, initially? I believe AP held off for a few minutes and was the first to report it correctly (At least, that's what I've gathered from all the journos on my Twitter feed). Either way, another black eye for the "Get it first" mentality. I miss the "Get it right, get it first" days.

[ttt]

This is what happens when you try at all costs to be the very first one to report news. You really couldn't have waited 30 whole seconds to double check and make sure you got it right??

[marie427]

Jun 28, 2012 12:07:30 GMT -5 ttt said:

This is what happens when you try at all costs to be the very first one to report news. You really couldn't have waited 30 whole seconds to double check and make sure you got it right??

Agreed, but in the Social Media Universe, 30 seconds might as well be 30 hours.

[caden]

I saw Fox, the NYT & Drudge all get it wrong. All 3 updated it pretty quickly though. In their defense they were going from the written opinion, which did read like it was overturned before it got to the tax part.

[EloiseWeenie]

Jun 28, 2012 11:51:48 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm loling that a story about news mistakes got the day wrong.

Yes! I had a panic moment when I read "Tuesday" thinking I forgot to take my son to gymnastics.

[NitaX]

Jun 28, 2012 12:00:49 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

#CNNHeadlines is now a trending hashtag.

My favorite so far "Supreme Court sides with majority of Americans and Upholds School Segregation"

I'd laugh if this wasn't like seriously a real, live debate in Memphis right now.

[marie427]

I died at this one:

Investigation finds that Billie Jean was indeed his lover #cnnheadlines

Shamon.

[casmgn]

Jun 28, 2012 11:51:48 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm loling that a story about news mistakes got the day wrong.

This totally made me stop in my tracks and LOL as well.

[casmgn]

Jun 28, 2012 12:20:37 GMT -5 nuggetbrain said:

Do news outlets just not bother to invest in basic proofreaders anymore? The fuck, man?

No, at least not their online staff. It's amazing how often I see typos when reading articles online.

[blindyswife]

Jun 28, 2012 12:11:23 GMT -5 caden said:

I saw Fox, the NYT & Drudge all get it wrong. All 3 updated it pretty quickly though. In their defense they were going from the written opinion, which did read like it was overturned before it got to the tax part.

I like to imagine that the scotus did in on purpose. "hey guys, if we read it like this everyone will be like: whoa , but then we'll be all: PSYCH! Gotcha!"

[MrsAxilla]

When I woke up this morning, I had two CNN alerts on my phone:

Supreme Court overturns ACA
Correction: Supreme Court upholds ACA

I was so confused. How do you get it that wrong?

[escrow]

Not sure if anyone else has posted this yet, but I got a notification on my phone from CNN this morning saying the SC had struck it down. Then got on fb and saw the status blowup and realized they fuuuucked up. haha! Then got the correction notification a few minutes later. Whoopsies!!

[charminglife]

Jun 28, 2012 12:00:49 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

#CNNHeadlines is now a trending hashtag.

My favorite so far "Supreme Court sides with majority of Americans and Upholds School Segregation"

I just saw this in my feed.

‏@deathstarpr #CNNHeadlines Identity of Luke Skywalker's Father Remains Mystery.
Collapse

[casmgn]

So do we think the producer and the Kate Boulduan will be making their exit from CNN soon?

[ttt]

Jun 28, 2012 13:51:17 GMT -5 casmgn said:

So do we think the producer and the Kate Boulduan will be making their exit from CNN soon?

But she's pretty!

[milkrations]

Jun 28, 2012 12:29:35 GMT -5 casmgn said:

Jun 28, 2012 12:20:37 GMT -5 nuggetbrain said:

Do news outlets just not bother to invest in basic proofreaders anymore? The fuck, man?

No, at least not their online staff. It's amazing how often I see typos when reading articles online.

A consequence of the dying news industry is that the proof readers were among the first to go.

[heyjude]

The problem here wasn't about proof reading. The problem here was reading comprehension.