Afternoon all. Like many of us, I too was here yesterday afternoon when the first reports came in. Over the next few hours, it became clear that there is a group who should be deeply committed to lessons learned: the media.

There were multiple shooters - first two, then three.
There were simultaneous attacks - the theater, the processing center, etc.
The gunman was dead.
Two gunmen were dead, the police had cornered the third.
Ad infinitum.

It was all bogus. It was all a feeding frenzy, grabbing whatever rumor came in and hitting the air. It fed panic, disorientation, and led to erroneous conclusions by reasonable people relying on the accuracy of the reporting.

It was not a good day for the media - local, regional, or national.

Just once - just once - I’d like to see an anchor on-air say something like:

“There has been a report of a shooting at (blank). It is my judgment that we are not getting reliable information at this point, which is perfectly understandable. This broadcast will not report on this story until we are able to sort valid facts from speculation and rumor. In other news…”

I know, of course that won’t happen, because the competition will still be running with the “breaking news” - and by the time awards season comes around, everyone will have forgotten the original crap spewed by these people.