Just had to put this in main......

by Myronwemissyinz » Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:42 am

Maybe CBS "NEWS" editors should take note of what responsable journalism means by the actions of this young editor!


A letter from the Managing Editor of Onward State:

Earlier this evening, Onward State reported that Joe Paterno had passed away. However, the mountain of evidence stacked opposite that report is too much to ignore. At this time, I would like to issue a retraction of our earlier tweets.

I never, in a million years, would have thought that Onward State would be cited by the national media, and today, I sincerely wish it never had been. To all those who read and passed along our reports, I sincerely apologize for misleading you. To the Penn State community and to the Paterno family most of all, I could not be more sorry for the emotional anguish I am sure we caused. There are no excuses for what we did. We all make mistakes, but it’s impossible to brush off one of this magnitude. Right now, we deserve all of the criticism headed our way.

In this day and age, getting it first often conflicts with getting it right, but our intention was never to fall into that chasm. All I can do now is promise that in the future, we will exercise caution, restraint, and humility.

I can only hope and pray that the outstanding work our writers and photographers do on a day-to-day basis is not overshadowed by the events of tonight. I understand that our reputation is in serious question, but I hope you will continue to stand by us as we do everything in our power to make amends.

To begin that process, I will be stepping down from my post as Managing Editor, effective immediately. I take full responsibility for the events that transpired tonight, and for the black mark upon the organization that I have caused.

I ask not for your forgiveness, but for your understanding. I am so very, very, sorry, and we at Onward State continue to pray for Coach Paterno.

Sincerely,

Devon Edwards

CBS take note....This young man has more journalistic integrity than any person who has ever cashed a check from CBS editorial department!!!!!

 

yeah it is very honorable......hope he doesn't have a family to feed though.....if so then it is pretty dumb

 

True - if he has a family to feed, it is dumb, but it could lead to a couple of things.

1. His superiors could refuse to accept his resignation and he keeps his job.

2. Other news outlets see his sincerity and willingness to "take one for the team" and bring him on-board.

This kind of honesty, integrity and personal accountability will not go unrewarded in my opinion.

 

its being reported again that JoPa has died this morning.. confirmed by family members
ESPN

 

Ouch. Hopefully the guy does keep his job. He wasn't far off, no disrespect.

 

Just want to make sure the point is taken that the national media editors who ran the story when it wasn't true yet had the very same responsibility to verify their info as the editor of that smaller paper had.

 

Onward State is a student news source at Penn State. Here is an article describing how the story got out of hand, with professional journalists compounding this student's mistake:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/22/us/patern ... index.html