Apologies and Attribution: The new breaking news

Apologies and Attribution: The new breaking news
Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died Sunday, but many news outlets reported his death Saturday night. AP/Paul Beaty
Apologies and Attribution: The new breaking news
Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died Sunday, but many news outlets reported his death Saturday night. AP/Paul Beaty

Apologies and Attribution: The new breaking news

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Generations of reporters have used the phrase, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” Though, it seemed over the weekend that maxim was ignored by some big news organizations when they reported former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno had died on Saturday - well before Paterno’s actual death Sunday. So, what went wrong? Who’s to blame? Jen Sabella, editor of the Huffington Post Chicago and WBEZ news desk editor Tony Arnold and editorial consultant Carl Lavin joined Eight Forty-Eight to discuss how news outlets attribute and source their news in these days of aggregation. Lavin, who says the best time to be a journalist is now, recently outlined “10 Lessons for Newsrooms: On Accuracy and Apologies.