CNN’s health care mistake repeated by some Chicago media

CNN’s health care mistake repeated by some Chicago media
CNN’s health care mistake repeated by some Chicago media

CNN’s health care mistake repeated by some Chicago media

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There was some confusion in national and Chicago-area media this morning as everyone rushed to report on the U.S. Supreme Court’s health care decision.

At 9:09 a.m., the Chicago Tribune, citing The Associated Press, tweeted that the justices upheld the individual mandate of the health care law.

About a minute later, the Chicago Sun-Times, without citation, tweeted that the court struck down the individual mandate.

The Sun-Times tweet linked to an article on the paper’s website citing a CNN report. Turns out, CNN was just plain wrong. The cable TV network’s mistake caused confusion, including on WBEZ-FM.

“That’s what’s being reported right now on CNN and we’re going to wait until we get further information, but again that is what is being reported,” said Eight Forty-Eight host Tony Sarabia.

And then, 17 seconds later, Sarabia said, “The individual mandate does survive as a tax. That is what is being reported by the SCOTUS blog,” citing a popular site for court watchers.

WBEZ executive producer Justin Kaufmann said later he is suspending CNN from the televisions in the station’s talk studio.

“I don’t know how long the suspension is going to be,” Kaufmann said. “We’re going to see how it plays out. [CNN has] been benched.”

As for that erroneous Sun-Times breaking news tweet? It was deleted.