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Erroneous early report of death was amplified by social media - The Washington Post: Novice reporters have long been admonished to double-check a news tip, even if the tip happens to be that your mother says she loves you. In the case of Joe Paterno’s death, some forgot the basics.

The result was a chain reaction of misreporting that grew blindly from a student journalist’s Twitter post erroneously suggesting that Paterno, 85, had succumbed to lung cancer on Saturday night. The legendary former Penn State football coach actually died Sunday morning, about 14 hours after some media sources had already declared him dead.