Dear Media- can we wait until all the facts are in before assigning blame in last night’s tragic shooting?

On “Good Morning America this morning,” George Stephanopoulos interviewed Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross (who Gawker dubs “America’s Wrongest Reporter) about the deadly shooting in an Aurora, Colorado theater last night that has killed at least 12 people and injured 50. With no verified facts to support his claim, Ross reported there may be a link between the alleged gunman and the Colorado Tea Party.

“There’s a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado Tea Party site as well, talking about him joining the Tea Party last year,” Ross said. “Now, we don’t know if this is the same Jim Holmes. But it’s Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado.”

Didn’t we learned from CNN and Fox News that rushing to a conclusion before the facts are in undermines your credibility as a news source? Sigh… roll the tape:

 


 
To their credit, ABC has issued a correction to the report:

An earlier ABC News broadcast report suggested that a Jim Holmes of a Colorado Tea Party organization might be the suspect, but that report was incorrect. Several other local residents with similar names were also contacted via social media by members of the public who mistook them for the suspect.