Journalists make mistakes sometimes. Especially college journalists. It’s for that reason that newspapers generally run corrections — and The Sun certainly ran its fair share when I was the managing editor.

But, sometimes a correction really just isn’t good enough. And it’s at those times that we, as consumers of the news, have to hope that the news organization in question learns its lesson and moves forward in a more responsible and intelligent manner.

For WVBR, Wednesday Oct. 8 was one of those times.

***

If you go to the WVBR website, go to the “News/Sports” drop down menu, and click on “WVBR NewsLine” you’ll be presented with a couple of recent stories and a list of older stories at the bottom of the page.

Still listed there is one of the older stories: “BODY FOUND UNDER BRIDGE,” from October 8. If you click to that story, you’ll find (I’ve left all grammar and capitalization choices alone for accuracy purposes):

“A body was found today under the college avenue bridge. The body was discovered at about 2:00pm, and police, ambulance, and Fire trucks closed the bridge for half an hour as rescue workers attempted to get the body out of Cascadilla gorge. The body was lifted out on a stretcher at around 2:30. The Cornell Daily Sun is reporting that a Cornell police officer on scene stated that a person allegedly dove head-first into the gorge.

“WVBR has received reports as to the identity of the body. However, these reports have not been verified as of this hour.

“Police, ambulance, and Fire trucks closed the bridge as rescue workers attempted to get the body out of the gorge. The body was lifted out around 2:45.

“At each side of the bridge, students stood in shock at what they were watching. Many were in tears, calling friends, family, trying to simply rationalize the situation.

“There is no word as to who this person is, when the person jumped, or why.

“The Cornell Press office nor the Ithaca police have not issued a statement.

“WVBR will be following this story and bringing you all the details as they develop.”

While this appears to be a moderately well researched story, it is, unfortunately, not the first story that was posted at this link. The first story, which is nowhere to be found, necessitated the following correction, which now sits atop the above:

“WVBR regrets reporting earlier this evening that the incident involved a Cornell law student. This information came from a source unconfirmed by the time of broadcast.”

Now, first, I want to commend WVBR for being (at least by my calculation) the first news organization to publish a story on the incident. The Sun, it appears, was a little late.

However, WVBR’s original story was woefully researched and shoddily reported. In an effort to get information out to the public extremely fast, they made a dangerous and irresponsible decision.

I was sitting in Myron Taylor Hall that afternoon monitoring every story and talking with people who were around the bridge at the time of the incident. To my surprise, no one knew whether the person was a Cornell student, let alone a law student — not even the police. But WVBR was content to take the information as fed to them seemingly by a random bystander without bothering to check it with any Cornell or Ithaca Police officials.

Yes, The Sun’s story was later, but at least the story was accurate. That is, The Sun’s editors didn’t run to the website and post the first set of sensational facts they were able to collect.

A correction was certainly warranted, and WVBR should be commended for taking the bullet. But, the reality is, spreading false information about tragedies of this magnitude on a college campus is extremely problematic, given Cornell’s history of student suicide and given other recent violent episodes on other campuses.

Could you imagine the bedlam that could occur if a college news organization were to jump the gun about a gunman or something similar on a college campus?

Although, at least in my experience, The Sun doesn’t always get the whole story from Cornell’s administration at all times, information with respect to incidents like this is held back for a reason. Students in Myron Taylor Hall shouldn’t have to sit and wonder whether one of their colleagues just committed suicide when there was no concrete reason for concern.

While I salute WVBR for apologizing for its mistake, it’s handling of this story was deplorable.

I sincerely hope it’s learned its lesson.

Eric Finkelstein ’06 is a former Sun managing editor and a third year student in the Law School. He can be reached at efinkelstein@cornellsun.com. Saturdays Excepted appears alternate Mondays.