OT: Jacobi fired by CBS for Paterno Pre-bituary
CBS Sports writer and former BHGP blogger Adam Jacobi has been fired by CBS for incorrectly reporting Joe Paterno's death. Not terribly surprising, even to him:
Adam_Jacobi Adam Jacobi
January 27th, 2012 at 4:54 PM ^
They had to fire him, and even if they didn't I'm sure he would have resigned. That's the appropriate punishment, and part of the high-stakes game of journalism--you take a chance on a source, make a big mistake, and get the axe.
He does seem like a good guy though who made an honest mistake, and I think he will get picked up by somebody--nothing as high-profile as CBS Sports, but if he is young and talented enough, this will eventually become a footnote to his career.
January 27th, 2012 at 4:55 PM ^
I always enjoyed his stuff on BHGP and it is unfrotunate that he lost his position at CBS over this, but I understand why CBS did what they did. Sadly, in such situations, even if it was an honest mistake, it was a mistake that millions read, blogged, tweeted, retweeted....and in today's world, this sadly almost guarantees a canning if you turn out to be wrong or premature. 21st century media is a strange, strange thing sometimes. Hopefully, somebody picks him up somewhere - he's definitely worth a read when he's got something posted.
January 27th, 2012 at 5:19 PM ^
Didn't JoePa die the same night he reported his death? Maybe he had just inside info from the ultimate insider..
January 27th, 2012 at 5:19 PM ^
Didn't JoePa die the same night he reported his death? Maybe he had just inside info from the ultimate insider..
January 27th, 2012 at 5:23 PM ^
To me, firing the guy seemed too reactionary - yes he was wrong about Paterno's death, but he did have a somewhat-legit "source" (and yes, debate away about the quality of said source) and the intent clearly wasn't to defame or injury the Paterno family. If anyone/anything is to the blame, it should be the system in place that rewards news organizations for being "first" over being right, or as I like to call it the Huffington Post/Gawker-ization of news reporting.
Did he deserve to be reprimanded? Yes. Is that a fireable offense given that so many other people responded in kind? Not really, at least in my opinion. I am all for news organizations accepting responsibility for being wrong, but that is the nature of reporting - the drive to report news oftentimes runs counter to the methodical authentication of said news that people trumpet when it serves their purposes. And sometimes you come out on the right side and get a scoop, while other times you come down on the wrong side and incorrectly report news that may be damaging to the subject(s). But to act like we (the news-consuming audience) and the institution of journalism itself don't t force reporters to walk this tight-rope is disingenuous.