• AP, Tuesday, January 11, 2011 12:28 AM

The rapidly replicated false report that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had died after being shot in the head provided media outlets another lesson this weekend in the danger of leaping to conclusions. NPR News' executive editor apologized Sunday to Giffords' family for the false report. Media organizations also faced scrutiny for how they speculated on potential causes of a gunman's rampage in a shopping center where Giffords was meeting with constituents, says AP.

National Public Radio had reported on its 2 p.m. EST newscast -- and in subsequent e-mail alerts to subscribers - that Giffords had died from her injury when, in fact, she was still in surgery. Other news orgs, Reuters, CBS, quoted NPR in their reports. Mistakes in the rush to gather facts in a fast-breaking story aren't new. Yet in today's media environment, amplified by the speed and viral nature of social media, they're likely to spread farther and faster than ever before.

NPR, which heard the information from two sources -- the local sheriff's office and a congressman's office -- apologized for the mistake and called it an unintentional error of judgment. The mistake illustrated the classic challenge of being first and being right, and Poytner says it raised questions about whether we should judge wrongness differently in breaking news situations.

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