American Journalism Review criticized articles that labeled Keith Urbahn’s Osama bin Laden tweet news breaking.
Urbahn, Donald Rumsfeld’s aide, tweeted first the night of Barack Obama’s May 1 announcement that “I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden.”
“To ‘break’ a story, you have to have nailed it down. You have to have the facts,” AJR lamented.
AJR continued noting that Urbahn had “no confirmation” and “no reliable source” because his information came from “a connected network TV producer” trying to interview Rumsfeld.
“Urbahn wasn’t practicing journalism. He was passing on a rumor,” said AJR. Read more here.