The Fog of Breaking News

Slate, December 3, 2008
By Jack Shafer

Breaking news -- especially complex breaking news -- has always defied the best reporters' attempts to get the story both first and right. Contradictory accounts and inaccuracies abound. But the press could do a better job of cleaning up after the fact by acknowledging that their frantic chasing of the story also resulted in the publication of some ... crap.

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