As a result their reporting ricocheted around social media, muddying the waters at best, telling people the wrong thing, messing with the stock markets and even misleading the US President.
It's compelling and entertaining to read the blow by blow description with time stamps and quotes. Tom Goldstein from Scotusblog - a well respected blog analysing the US Supreme Court and its decisions - says he did first hand interviews to try and figure out how two networks made such a huge mistake. For those who are students of media theory - there's a nice little Jean Baudrillard 'hyper-reality' moment when Fox uses CNN to confirm it's reports, and vica-versa.
Whether you agree with the blog's conclusions or not, it's a very solid insight into how US media operate on big stories. It's also a reminder of how crucial an initial reporting premise is, and how it can make or break you. Speed vs accuracy?
I took one thing away - when you're reading something, make sure you turn the page to see what's written on the other side!
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