All those millions of people unlucky enough to have been watching Fox News Special Report with Bret Baier this evening saw a frightening chyron on their screen:
GUN INCIDENT AT WHITE HOUSE
And heres how host Bret Baier fleshed things out:
This is a Fox News alert. Youre looking live at the White House. We are just getting a report of some kind of commotion. We are getting a report from our own Ed Henry who is now running to the camera position that someone pulled a weapon of some type and gunmen have engaged this person. Now, we dont know exactly what this is. There is some kind of incident occurring at the White House right now and we wanted to bring it to you as this day has been very tense here in Washington, D.C., as security has been stepped up, not only at the U.S. Capitol but all around.We will monitor this and see if we can bring you any information.
Fox News Twitter followers might have seen the tweet at the top of this post, from Fox News confirms shots fired outside the White House just moments ago That came from the Fox News/Shep Staff Twitter handle. As reported last week, Fox News host Shepard Smith and his crack staff of news-breaking masters are due to slide into a larger role in guiding the networks coverage whenever big news breaks.
From the looks of things, theyll be needing some practice. Because that GUN INCIDENT AT WHITE HOUSE? Turned out to have been a guy with some firecrackers, as Fox News itself later reported. From the Fox report: Although the sounds outside the northwest gate were initially described as sounding like gunshots, a US Secret Service official said it was firecrackers and no gun was found.
An inquiry to Fox News about how it processed its initial report didnt receive an immediate reply.
You don't go on air and say it's a gun when you don't know yourself what it is. You also don't yell at someone's briefcase in an airport and say BOMB if you don't know if it actually is a bomb.
You don't go on air and say it's a gun when you don't know yourself what it is. You also don't yell at someone's briefcase in an airport and say BOMB if you don't know if it actually is a bomb.
This is becoming a growing problem with news stations because they all want to provide the most up to date news and sometimes are forced to sacrafice their accuracy. With all the social media, people are able to access news more quickly, and the news channels are trying keep up.
But, does anyone even trust fox news anchors anyways? ;P
I agree with Zoe, I mean we want all the latest news like 5 minutes ago, we want it now not later, so the result ends up being mistake after mistake before the official statement is made...If Fox reports it first we'll stay and watch Fox even if NBC has the right story shortly after. They're fighting for viewers not accuracy...
I agree with Zoe, I mean we want all the latest news like 5 minutes ago, we want it now not later, so the result ends up being mistake after mistake before the official statement is made...If Fox reports it first we'll stay and watch Fox even if NBC has the right story shortly after. They're fighting for viewers not accuracy...
News atations should never report anything this serious without concrete evidence to supprot its claim, not only will it make you look bad, it could cause a mass paniac which could be potentionally be dangerous.
I understand that the firecrackers may have sounded like gunshots but I don't think they should have reported something serious like that without actually knowing what it was.
