CNN's John King caused some controversy on Wednesday when he said that a potential suspect in the Boston bombings was a "dark-skinned male."
King was the first to report that law enforcement officials had identified a suspect in Monday's bloody attacks.
Eventually, of course, King's entire thesis turned out to be false. Federal authorities made clear that there was no suspect in the attacks yet. At the time, though, he appeared to have a scoop.
"I want to be very careful about this, because people get very sensitive when you say these things," he said. "I was told by one of these sources who is a law enforcement official that this is a dark-skinned male."
He said that there had been a further description given, but he was refraining from sharing it with viewers.
"There are some people who will take offense for even saying that," he said. "I understand that."
"We can't say whether the person spoke with a foreign accent, or an American accent?" Wolf Blitzer asked. "That would be premature."
King repeated that he was only going to use the "dark-skinned male" description, saying that sometimes information did not turn out to be true.
"I'm making a personal judgment—forgive me, I think it's the right judgment—not to try to inflame tensions," King said. "They say it's a dark-skinned male."
PBS anchor Gwen Ifill tweeted her disapproval of King's choice:
King's description was also disputed by CBS News, which said officials were looking for a white man.