The tragedy of Kobe Bryant being killed on Sunday morning turned even worse as reporters came out of the woodwork to throw out erroneous reports of things they had not gotten clarification on before telling the world.
There were rumors of Rick Fox being on the helicopter, which turned out to not be true. The worst of them all was easily ABC News chief national correspondent Matt Gutman, who when covering the crash from the scene, talked not just about Bryant, but added that “four of his children are believed to be on that helicopter with him”:
That turned the situation from heartbreaking and devastating to a word that isn’t even created yet. People were besides themselves that such a loss happened, but it didn’t happen.
Bryant’s one daughter, Gianna, was the only one aboard that plane that day.
Matt Gutman would later take to Twitter to apologize:
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On Wednesday, ABC News announced a suspension for Gutman, as per Stephen Battaglio of The Los Angeles Times:
“Reporting the facts accurately is the cornerstone of our journalism,” an ABC News representative said in a statement to The Times that confirmed the suspension. “As he acknowledged on Sunday, Matt Gutman’s initial reporting was not accurate and failed to meet our editorial standards.”
The representative did not divulge the length of Gutman’s suspension. In a statement to The Times, Gutman issued another apology.
“We are in the business of holding people accountable,” Gutman said. “And I hold myself accountable for a terrible mistake, which I deeply regret. I want to personally apologize to the Bryant family for this wrenching loss and any additional anguish my report caused.”
Gutman’s false info really stood out from all the bad info because it came from a credible reporter while on the air. People took it as facts and it in turn made other news outlets look stupid when they wrote it up.
