The Tubbs-Jones Incident

Wow. Quite a day to watch from my post as a currently ex-member of the news media.

In case you haven't heard, a prominent Congresswoman from Northeast Ohio ... Stephanie Tubbs-Jones ... was hospitalized after being found unresponsive in her car last night.

Well, at around 12:30 this afternoon, the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper broke some somber news on its website that Ms. Tubbs-Jones, a key player in Hillary Clinton's campaign, had passed away.

The PD quoted "sources" saying the Congresswoman had succumbed after life support was removed at a local hospital.

Her family then scheduled a 2 pm news conference at the hospital. 3 of the 4 local television stations pitched live to the presser saying Tubbs-Jones had died.

That's when the assembled members of media found out the surprising news.

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones wasn't dead.

Instead, the hospital told reporters that Tubbs-Jones was in very critical condition, after suffering a brain aneurysm.

The Plain Dealer quickly pulled it's original story replacing it with this. Here's a quote from that article.

"Officials updated her condition this afternoon after conflicting reports that the congresswoman was dead. Numerous media outlets - including The Plain Dealer on its Web site cleveland.com, CNN and the Associated Press - reported that Tubbs Jones had died."

So, here's a question ... where do you think CNN and the AP picked up on Tubbs-Jones' "death" in the first place? I'm guessing from the original article on the PD's website.

The paper has also disabled the "comments" section of its story, I'm guessing because of the sensitive nature of the Congresswoman's condition.

I'm sure, though, that they also don't want anyone calling them out on today's shoddy piece of journalism.

On a side note, I want to give some kudos to my former employer WKYC. They showed restraint as the only television station in town to hold off reporting on the Congresswoman's condition ... until they had confirmation.

Also, to the Congresswoman's friends and family ... my thoughts and prayers are with you as well, during this difficult time.

(UPDATE: After initially writing this post, I discovered this story on wkyc.com. Sadly, I can't say as I like the chest-thumping for not screwing up the story. Seems a little much for what remains a very grave situation for a local politician. The station loses a couple points for that one. Just do your job, and let others write about how you did it.)

(UPDATE 2: Just learned shortly after 6 pm that the Congresswoman has, indeed, passed away at the age of 58. Condolences to all who knew and loved her.)