Multiple news outlets found themselves with a problem on their hands after their reports that alleged California killer Christopher Dorner was dead were refuted by the Los Angeles Police Department.
As President Obama was giving his State of the Union address, CBS News tweeted that a body believed to be that of Dorner had been found in a burned-out cabin. CNN soon followed. So did ABC and NBC News. So did local Los Angeles stations. All cited either the LAPD or, in NBC's case, the LA mayor's office.
The Associated Press reported that a "charred body" had been found in the cabin.
All of this reporting was thrown into turmoil, though, when an LAPD commander, Andy Smith, said at a press conference that no body had been found -- and that the cabin was too hot to even go near.
CNN's Randi Kaye then took to the airwaves to confirm this news. She told Anderson Cooper that a man at the scene had told her the cabin was much too hot to approach, and that it could be weeks before any body there was positively identified.
There was no immediate explanation as to why all the reports had seemingly turned out to be mistaken. Cooper later tweeted that his network was still getting reports that Dorner was dead inside the cabin.
Related
Before You Go
