Florida GOP Rep. Bill Young has been hospitalized, but somewhere along the line word got out to “real reporters” that Young had died. Why waste time with the confirmation process?
Rep. Bill Young (R-FL) has died, he was 82
— Luke Russert (@LukeRussert) October 17, 2013
Florida Rep. Bill Young, most senior Republican in Congress, has died at age 82
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) October 17, 2013
Then word started to come in that Young has not died:
@LukeRussert @kasie No he hasn't! RT @adamsmithtimes: US Rep. CW Bill Young has not died, contrary to some reports. This is confirmed.
— Emil Caillaux (@emilcDC) October 17, 2013
Wait. So Bill Young hasn't died? Who screwed that up?
— RBe (@RBPundit) October 17, 2013
After it was clear Young had not died, “updates” and retractions ensued:
UPDATE: Young Family stmt: Young's condition turned for the worse over night & he is gravely ill. His doctors say his prognosis is guarded"
— Luke Russert (@LukeRussert) October 17, 2013
CORRECTION: Rep. Bill Young (R-FL) took a turn for the worse and is "gravely ill," but is not dead. (@JaredHalpern)
— NewsBreaker (@NewsBreaker) October 17, 2013
CORRECTION: Rep. Bill Young (R-FL) took a turn for the worse and is "gravely ill," but is not dead. (@JaredHalpern)
— FOX News Radio (@foxnewsradio) October 17, 2013
Situations such as this provide a stark reminder to receive media reports with the requisite amount of skepticism:
oh good grief, c'mon media. get the facts straight.
— beth (@dicentric) October 17, 2013
That's not their job. RT @dicentric oh good grief, c'mon media. get the facts straight.
— Jim Jamitis (@anthropocon) October 17, 2013
One of the people wrongly reporting that Bill Young, US Rep, has died pic.twitter.com/RdWNjselCi
— Zachary Stieber (@ZackStieber) October 17, 2013
He didn't, but it's obvious NBC is walking dead of journalism for some time. RT @LukeRussert: Rep. Bill Young (R-FL) has died, he was 82
— FilmLadd (@FilmLadd) October 17, 2013
You'd think this would've been deleted by now… RT @LukeRussert: Rep. Bill Young (R-FL) has died, he was 82
— Jerome Hudson (@JeromeEHudson) October 17, 2013
Even though Young has not died as many reported, he is in the hospital and we wish him the best:
Nonetheless, praying. RT gopconference: Rep. Bill Young is not dead, but he is in the hospital. Please join us in praying for his recovery.
— KJ Kingsolver (@jksolver) October 17, 2013
Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time Young has been reported to have died:
Bill Young was rumored to be dead in October 2011, too http://t.co/0pnXoEf4pq
— Ethan Klapper (@ethanklapper) October 17, 2013
Rep. Bill Young is reported to be gravely ill, but he is still alive. This is not the first time this has happened http://t.co/fXFXcWcEiE
— Special Report Team (@SpecialReport) October 17, 2013
The press gets in such a frenzy to be “first” to report a death that the situation often starts to resemble parody:
This Monty Python and the Holy Grail bit is germane at this moment http://t.co/qCPs2r1UVf
— Ali Weinberg (@AliABCNews) October 17, 2013
