Friday, August 22, 2008

Rep. Jones memorial expected weekend after DNC.

Washington Post:

A memorial service for Rep.
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), who died yesterday after suffering a brain hemorrhage, is expected to be held in Cleveland the weekend after the Democratic National Convention, according to a report in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
"Plans are still being made, but the Aug. 30 date is most likely, says Joe Hewitt, a family friend and spokesman," the Plain Dealer reports. No plans have been made yet for a separate service in Washington.
.
The Hill reports that Democratic officials are planning a tribute to Tubbs Jones during their convention next week, one that may include the involvement of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), a friend and political ally of the Ohio lawmaker.

And this: a black eye for the media.

Blunders, embarrassment, and erroneous reporting Jones's death
Several major news organizations, including The Associated Press, prematurely reported the death Wednesday of U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio, who had suffered a brain hemorrhage while driving in suburban Cleveland.

The reports were corrected after a doctor said at an afternoon news conference that Tubbs Jones was in critical condition with limited brain function. The Cleveland Clinic announced later that the 58-year-old Democrat died about 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Various Democratic officials who spoke on condition of anonymity provided the basis for most of the erroneous reports. They were out for anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour on CNN, CBS, Fox and Web sites for The Washington Post and The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer as well as the AP.

The AP moved its one-sentence, Washington-dated NewsAlert reporting the death at 2:30 p.m., attributing the information to a Democratic Party official. After the hospital news conference, the AP moved out a corrected alert at 2:44 p.m.

1 comment:

airJackie said...

I did hear about the false reports but I got information sent by Hillary. It seems her and Rep. Jones were really close friends and Hillary's team just keep emailing up dates so I knew the press and blog were wrong. Hillary set up a condolence area for people to send the family of Rep. Jones.