FBI to media: STFU you idiots

The New York Post made a mockery of the concept of responsible journalism on Monday, splashing one inaccurate report after another on their front page. Today CNN led the media fail of the century, erroneously reporting a suspect in the Boston bombing had been IDed and arrested. The FBI is not amused:

Contrary to widespread reporting, no arrest has been made in connection with the Boston Marathon attack. Over the past day and a half, there have been a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate. Since these stories often have unintended consequences, we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting.

Most of the media, old and new, rushed to report CNN's erroneous "scoop" in a hot race for ratings. This mad horde reporting is not only stupid and useless, it's damaging to the investigation. If a suspect really had been IDed, prematurely reporting some vaguely sourced leak could tip him off. He could escape because of it and do it again somewhere else.

The sort of perps who commit these mass murders generally are acting out because they feel invisible in society. They seek this sort of massive media attention. The more they get, the more incentive they have to continue killing. No doubt the perp is seeing this media scrum in front of the courthouse and feeling pretty damn important right now.


[LaurenWBZ photo]

I'm told there's over 1,000 reporters covering the bombing. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the world's greatest deliberative body is killing gun safety reform by filibuster and last I heard Wolf Blizter was carrying a pressure cooker pot around the set, just in case you don't know an empty one looks like. I swear, media malpractice is going to kill us sooner than any terrorists will.