This so reminiscent of their 2000 electorial coverage that it would be funny, if the Pope wan't involved.
Courtesy of the AP via the San Francisco Chronicle.
Fox News Channel erroneously reported the death of Pope John Paul II on Friday afternoon, backpedaled several minutes later, then apologized to viewers for the mistake.
Television networks were marshaling resources and dealing with conflicting reports as the pope's illness took a turn for the worse Friday, maintaining an electronic vigil like the Roman Catholic faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.
Viewers could be forgiven for confusion as the cable news networks flashed reports at them. At 12:30 p.m. EST, MSNBC posted the words "Pope lost consciousness" on its screen. At the same moment, CNN was reporting: "Pope visibly joining in prayers of those around him."
But at 1:23 p.m., Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith reported that the pope had died. At least initially, he did not cite sources.
By 1:30 p.m., Fox reporter Greg Palkot in Rome was sending signals of caution, saying the report had not been confirmed and the network was checking into it.
Declard the Pope' death without quoting sources, that sure is professional.
Fox News continues
"The exact time of death, I think, is not something that matters so much at this moment for we will be reliving John Paul's life for many days and weeks and even years and decades and centuries to come," Smith said.
This guy isn't some Joe Schome from West Bumblefuck. It's the Pope, a spiritual leader to millions in the world, including many Americans. This guys means alot to a alot of people, you can't dick around with it comes to something like this.
Almost forgotten by the cable news networks was the story to which they had devoted most of their airtime for the past two weeks: Terri Schiavo, who died Thursday.
So the media frenzy move on. What the hell ever happened to their "sacred cause" in Terri Schiavo?
Ahh...hypocirsy...