Media Mess-Ups: Who's Who of Sandy Hook School Shooting Reporting Errors Pa

iMediaEthics publishes international media ethics news stories and investigations into journalism ethics lapses.

Menu

Home » Apologies & Retractions»

(Credit: YouTube, NYT, screenshot)

The media made several major errors, including using the wrong photo, naming the wrong shooter, and reporting that the shooter’s father was killed in the violence while reporting on the Friday mass shootings at Connecticut school Sandy Hook Elementary School. Below are a sampling of errors that iMediaEthics has come across.

iMediaEthics acknowledges that there will be errors in breaking news reporting.  But, if the media does not provide readers  transparent corrections for developing stories, does this lower the bar where there is nothing that is considered an error? Is the media not accountable for harm done — like reporting the wrong person was killed?

“This isn’t like the five-second rule when food falls on the floor and you quickly pick it up and it’s eatable. A wrong fact for even five-seconds is quickly propagated and can cause real harm,” iMediaEthics’ publisher and editor-in-chief Rhonda Roland Shearer said.

 

Ryan Lanza vs. Adam Lanza

As has been much reported, a Hoboken man named Ryan Lanza is the brother of the shooter Adam Lanza. Many media outlets initially mis-named the shooter, later updating stories and attributing the error to their sources reportedly switching the names.

CNN, the Associated Press, NBC News , the Daily Record, and many others identified Ryan Lanza as “the suspected gunman.” The Los Angeles Times noted in a story that “citing unnamed sources” it also  “was among media outlets” that wrongly named Ryan Lanza.

Entertainment Weekly added that the AP tweeted out the correct information — naming Adam Lanza — attributed to a “law enforcement official.” Separately, in a story, the AP noted that it had wrongly named Ryan Lanza as the shooter, writing:

“The Associated Press, relying on a law enforcement official who turned out to be mistaken, initially reported Ryan Lanza was the shooter. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the source was not authorized to speak on the record about the developing investigation. Many other media outlets also reported the same, also citing law enforcement officials.”

The Huffington Post added a correction and an editor’s note to address errors in reporting on the suspected shooter in the Connecticut mass shooting. That article had not only misidentified the accused as Ryan Lanza, but also “misidentified a Facebook page as that of the shooter.”

 

Using Pictures from Facebook

Because of the name error, several news outlets, including the Huffington Post article, initially used photos or images from a Facebook account for a Ryan Lanza.  Outlets like Gawker then had to correct when Ryan Lanza posted on that account saying he wasn’t the shooter.

The Huffington Post’s editor’s note discloses the error in reporting Ryan Lanza was the shooter.  The correction apologizes for the photo error and reads:

“CORRECTION: The original story in this entry misidentified a Facebook page as that of the shooter. HuffPost reporter David Lohr was not the author of that report. We regret the error.”

Meanwhile, iMediaEthics saw a CNN iReport with the Facebook picture in question. The iReport notes it was “not vetted for CNN.” CNN’s Matt Dornic told iMediaEthics by email: “we’ve removed photos related to the shooting several times. I’ll flag this one too.” That iReport has since been taken down.

(See iMediaEthics’ previous report on iReport, which posts user-generated content often with notes disclosing CNN didn’t vet it, after an iReport post wrongly claimed singer Gotye was dead.)

As iMediaEthics wrote Friday, CNN denied reports that it aired the wrong photo and instead pointed to Fox. Gawker, which had reported CNN aired the picture, later updated.

As Gawker explained,  “dozens of media accounts (including Gawker)” used the Facebook photo and indicated the reason that Facebook profile was used was because that’s where the trail of information led. Gawker wrote:

“According to NBC three different law enforcement sources have confirmed “Ryan Lanza” as the suspect. Which leaves us with a few, equally weird options: that police (or the media) have the wrong guy as a suspect; that there are two Ryan Lanzas, of the same age, splitting time between Connecticut and New Jersey; or that this is the right Ryan Lanza, and someone is perpetrating an elaborate, and very morbid, hoax. Until we figure out which one is right, let’s stop sharing the guy’s profile and ID’ing it as the killer.”

UPI published the Facebook photo in question, and later apparently unpublished its report.

Ryan Lanza NOT Dead, Despite Reports

CNN’s live blog also reported Friday that “a brother of the alleged shooter was found dead in a home searched in Hoboken, New Jersey. We already knew the suspect’s mother was found dead in the elementary school.”

Both of those bits of information were proven false later, as CNN noted in an “update” three hours later reporting that “the mother of the suspected shooter was found dead in the suspect’s home in Newtown. No brother of the suspect has been found dead, and no one has been found dead in the home in Hoboken, New Jersey, investigators say.”

iMediaEthics is working on further reports on how the media covered the Connecticut shootings.

Submit a tip / Report a problem

Media Mess-Ups: Who’s Who of Sandy Hook School Shooting Reporting Errors, Part 1

Share this article:

คาสิโน
สล็อต
sa gaming
tkb365
https://tkb399.com/login
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
ทำความรู้จักกับ
PG
สล็อต
tkb138
sa gaming
https://www.hotelplayagolf.com/es/instalaciones/piscinas
tkb365
บาคาร่า
สล็อตเว็บตรง
บาคาร่า
ทดลองเล่นสล็อตฟรี
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต pg
สล็อตเว็บตรง
สล็อตเว็บตรง
tkb138
ซุปเปอร์สล็อต
tkb138
tkb365
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
changbet789
สูตรสล็อต pg ทดลองเล่นฟรี
สล็อต ดาวน์โหลด รับเครดิตฟรี
สล็อต
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
tkb138
https://www.hotelalbora.com/
https://tkb108.co/register
tkb696
สล็อตเว็บตรง
changbet789
สล็อตทดลอง
pg
betflix
pg slot
สล็อต
pg slot
สล็อตเว็บจริง100%
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
sbobet
ดลองเล่นสล็อต pg
tkb138
https://titanium-hotel.com/
สล็อต
tkb138
taokaebet
tkb777
อันดับแรก
คาสิโน
changbet789
แจกเครดิตฟรี 100%
ทดลองเล่นสล็อตทุกค่ายฟรี
สล็อต
changbet789
tkb365
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
changbet789
finfinbet
คาสิโน
changbet789
tkb108
tkbneko
สล็อตเว็บตรง
สล็อต
สล็อต
สล็อต
https://www.gday96.com/
สล็อต888
สล็อต
PG
บาคาร่าเว็บตรง
changbet789
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต pg
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
ทดลองเล่นสล็อตฟรี
tkb365
tkb365
tkb365
tkb555
tkb555
tkb555
tkb555
tkb555
tkb555
tkb555
tkbking
tkbking
tkbking
tkbking
tkbking
tkbking
thb889
thb889
thb889
thb889
thb889
thb889
thb889
tkb4
tkb4
tkb4
tkb4
tkb4
tkb4
tkb4
tkb9
tkb9
tkb9
tkb9
tkb9
tkb9
tkb9
tkb33
tkb33
tkb33
tkb33
tkb33
tkb33
tkb33
finfinbet
finfinbet
finfinbet
finfinbet
finfinbet
finfinbet
finfinbet
TKB96
tkb96
tkb96
tkb96
tkb96
tkb96
tkb96
tkbfun
tkbfun
tkbfun
tkbfun
tkbfun
tkbfun
tkbfun
tkbpg
tkbpg
tkbpg
tkbpg
tkbpg
tkbpg
tkbpg
tkbpussy
tkbpussy
tkbpussy
tkbpussy
tkbpussy
tkbpussy
tkbpussy
tkbrich
tkbrich
tkbrich
tkbrich
tkbrich
tkbrich
tkbrich
tkbsexy
tkbsexy
tkbsexy
tkbsexy
tkbsexy
tkbsexy
tkb777
tkb777
tkb777
tkb777
tkb777
tkb777
tkb777
taokaebet
taokaebet
taokaebet
taokaebet
taokaebet
taokaebet
taokaebet
tkbsexy
tkbrich
tkbpussy
tkbpg
tkbfun
tkb96
tkb33
tkb9
tkb4
thb889
tkbking
tkb555
tkb365
changbet789
บาคาร่า
คาสิโนออนไลน์
sa gaming
คาสิโนออนไลน์สด
สล็อต
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต pg ซื้อฟรีสปิน
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
บาคาร่า
สล็อต เว็บตรงไม่ผ่านเอเย่นต์ไม่มีขั้นต่ำ
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
สล็อต