There Are Still Journalists Who Do It Right

Except...as of this writing...he's not. (WFSB)

I feel like I'm in a daily fight to defend, support, and promote journalism, and I won't back down from it.

But dammit, we've dropped the ball over the past few days.

I told you about the screw ups of the reporting of Kobe, his daughter, and the seven others who died in the helicopter crash on Sunday.

Now I'm following a disaster of journalism in Connecticut. Fotis Dulos -- accused of killing his estranged wife -- reportedly tried to kill himself a few hours ago. That does not seem to be in doubt.

I saw the story break and I checked my sources. The Hartford Courant was on top of it and, just after Noon, reported that Dulos was dead. Several sources -- ones that I trust -- backed that up.

I teach the Rule of Three -- three verified sources.

I watched WFSB-TV from Hartford (Rocky Hill, to be exact) as they tried to stumble and carry along the breaking news. Look, I get that. I've done breaking news. You're stretching, straining, and struggling for things to say. You find all of the "ums," "uhs," and "you knows" to get through it. You repeat yourself.

This is what I lovingly call "HAN Radio Stormcast."

Then, in a flash, I watched as WFSB (channel 3) came to a halt. The anchor reached for her IFB -- that earphone worn by TV people.

I could almost sense her blushing in agony of embarrassment.

Something was amiss. Dulos' attorney, Norm Pattis, put out a statement that Dulos still had a pulse.

It was a journalistic miracle! Praise Edward R. Murrow!

Except Murrow would be horrified.

We. Had. It. Wrong.

And with my retweeting and sharing via social media, I felt complicit in passing along errant information.

It's not about me. I realize that. But I feel responsible to be someone you can all trust.

We're letting you down, and it becomes low-hanging fruit for those embittered by this business, or angry at us because we don't talk about Trump enough or whatever to attack and say journalism is "dead."

It ain't dead. There are plenty of us -- I know them -- who won't let it die. They honor this business every day and are an inspiration to me. They're not hung up in the narcissism of who they know in the business as they make the story about themselves.

There are plenty of us who scour, source, double-check and triple-check stories. There are plenty of us who are unbiased in what we do.

But, we screwed this one up.

As I write, Fotis Dulos is in the hospital and efforts are ongoing to save his life. Whether or not his life matters is for another time, when I'm not wearing a journalism hat.

We need to do better and I'll be damned after today if I know how to do that.

Frank Reynolds was an ABC News anchor. Watch him meltdown on the air as information was found to be wrong during the Reagan assassination. I saw this live and, to this day, I'll never forget his reaction as news about press secretary James Brady and Reagan came forward:

"Let's get it nailed down ... somebody ... let's find out! Let's get it straight so we can report this thing accurately!"

I can't say it any better than that.