Mitchell Report: MSNBC Reports Wrong Names

I hope there were many great discussions today in newsrooms around the country about the incorrect names being reported just prior to the George Mitchell news conference about performance enhancing drugs in baseball. I know that MSNBC, and I believe WNBC got their hands on what they thought was the accurate list. But as minutes developed, several names apparently were wrong. MSNBC reportedly issued an on-air apology.

InsideCableNews has the story here.
"...MSNBC named baseball players Johnny Damon and Nomar Garciopara as implicated in the Major League Baseball steroids scandal. Only it turns out that was not the case. MSNBC had to make an on-air apology for this gaffe at the top of the 5pm hour just before Hardball came on."

It’s a great discussion for newsrooms because as soon as news operations learned that the list from MSNBC was released on-air, they should have been asking key questions.
What’s the source?
Who confirmed the list?
Do we feel safe using it?
In these scenarios, answers to those questions will keep us on a solid journalistic path, prevent errors in the product and prevent legal issues. The discussion happened in our newsroom and I’m happy to say it was a short discussion. The team understood that we need more confirmed and sourced information that we trusted.