CNN, the AP, and Fox News Get Boston Marathon Bombing Arrest Story Wrong

Last updated on April 19th, 2013 at 06:58 pm

This all started when CNN first reported that law enforcement had identified a suspect, “The breakthrough came from analysis of video from a department store near the site of the second explosion. Video from a Boston television station also contributed to the progress, said the source, who declined to be more specific but called it a significant development.”

The AP upped the ante a million fold when they tweeted:

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CNN jumped in and claimed that an arrest had been made, “An arrest has been made in the Boston bombings investigation based on two videos showing images of the suspect, a federal law enforcement source told CNN’s Fran Townsend.”

NBC News came back with Pete Williams, who reported that no arrest has been made.

Fox News is reporting, “Investigators have arrested a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing after reviewing photos and video from Monday’s event, a federal source confirmed to FoxNews.com.”

Fox News later backtracked and so No Arrest.

Confused yet?

It turns out that CNN, the AP, and the initial Fox News report were all wrong.

Finally, The Boston Police Department settled this by tweeting:

Despite reports to the contrary there has not been an arrest in the Marathon attack.

— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 17, 2013

The truth is that all of these media outlets probably had no idea whether or not a suspect has been identified, an arrest is imminent, or a suspect is in custody.

Somebody ran with a story, it spread like wildfire, and a lot of news networks ended up being wrong. Props to NBC and CBS News for never biting on the arrest had been made story. They got it right. CNN took a piece of good information, and somehow it got turned into an inaccurate report. Fox News got it wrong, then corrected themselves, MSNBC never reported that an arrest had been made. ABC News followed Fox News by getting the story wrong, but corrected themselves later.

This was a total debacle, but it has become the norm with a mainstream media that always places being first ahead of getting the story right.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association