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[/media-credit]CNN gets health care decision wrong.
It was complicated, no doubt. But CNN’s rush to the wrong conclusion on the U.S. Supreme Court’s health care opinion was a black eye for the network on a day when we’d expect better.
The 193-page decision on the Affordable Care Act was by no means a quick read. And the competition to get the word out first about the much-anticipated decision was intense.
Still, the gaffe was embarrassing and amateurish.
So, how did it happen? CNN posted this statement on its website:
“In his opinion, Chief Justice Roberts initially said that the individual mandate was not a valid exercise of Congressional power under the Commerce Clause. CNN reported that fact, but then wrongly reported that therefore the court struck down the mandate as unconstitutional. However, that was not the whole of the Court’s ruling. CNN regrets that it didn’t wait to report out the full and complete opinion regarding the mandate. We made a correction within a few minutes and apologize for the error.”
The lesson here? At least read the whole summary before reporting a conclusion.
