In the "who won?" game, chalk up the media as one of Thursday's losers. Some major outlets, eager to be the first to break the news of the Supreme Court's health care ruling, flat out got it wrong, setting the social media world on fire.
Most significantly, CNN and Fox News reported on air and on their websites that the court had struck down key provisions in the ACA as unconstitutional. As "SUPREME CT. KILLS INDIVIDUAL MANDATE" flashed on the screen, CNN's Wolf Blitzer called it a "historic moment." A breathless John King said it was a "dramatic blow to the policy and to the president," while the news agency's Website read, "Mandate struck down."
Fox News made the same mistake, initially reporting that the mandate had been axed before correcting that assessment minutes later. And The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in its first tweet of the day, repeated the error: "Breaking: Supreme Court strikes down mandate that requires individuals to buy insurance."
Not quite "Dewey Defeats Truman," but an "ooops," nevertheless. So what happened?
"In this particular case, there was no excuse. This wasn't breaking news, we knew it was happening," said Kelly McBride, a senior faculty member at the Poynter Institute, a non-profit journalism school in St. Petersburg, Fla.
"There should have been an arrangement for who was going to read the decision and make those initial calls about headlines, graphics and what the story is. ... This is a Supreme Court decision, so you need someone who knows how to read it and understands the nuances of the law."
Veteran journalist Richard Prince, who writes a column for the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, noted that the Supreme Court, by its nature, is a tricky beat.
"Unlike many institutions, the Supreme Court does not issue embargoed copies of its pronouncements so reporters can digest them before going public," Prince said. "A similar situation took place in the Bush v. Gore ruling in 2000."
Within moments of CNN's gaffe, Twitter wits dredged up that parallel: "CNN now reporting Al Gore is our new president," tweeted @mattduss.
"CNN proves definitively that even in the age of social media, it's better to be right than first," tweeted @jaredwsmith.
"Moving over to Fox News to watch heads explode," tweeted @AntDeRosa.
David Folkenflik, the media critic for National Public Radio tweeted simply: "Cable: get it first, then get it right."
The chaff got so thick that, in an effort to tamp the competitive hazing, Associated Press Editor David Scott ordered his staff to stop using social networks to taunt organizations that got it wrong.
"The pressure to be first is unnecessary," McBride said. "Who gives a crap? ... You build up trust slowly and lose it quickly. It takes one miscommunication and you spend weeks and months building it back up."
But that didn't stop the sparring over who was first. Professional media watcher Jim Romenesko posted a message he got from Bloomberg, claiming to have beat the AP by 24 seconds: "You reference an email that notes that the AP first reported the decision — by our records, Bloomberg moved the story first at 10:07:31; the AP moved the story at 10:07:55. I've attached screen shots of both headlines with timestamps ..."
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