Well the mainstream press may be biased, but at least they're accurate:
UNDEAD BOB HOPE
In what is being described as 'total embarrassment,' ABC NEWS on Friday erroneously reported the death of Bob Hope in a special national news alert, complete with a Bob Hope death package of clip and performance. ABC NEWS reported Bob Hope dead, citing congress and REUTERS as its source.
During the breaking news on ABC RADIO, it has been learned, Bob Hope's publicist called and said Bob was still alive and eating breakfast. ABC NEWS RADIO then corrected the story, live on air, during its initial report.
Bob Hope's daughter Linda on Friday called REUTERS to tell the wire that her father had not died: 'There is no truth in it. Dad is at home, having his breakfast, at this point. He is fine.' What started it all? Rep. Stump [R - AZ] said Bob Hope had passed away on the floor of the House.
'What? He's not dead? We've just assigned 8 reporters on it,' a WASHINGTON POST insider told the DRUDGE REPORT late Friday afternoon.
In January, ABC NEWS NIGHTLINE devoted a show to the perils of speed Internet reporting and the danger of false information being circulated online without fact-checkers and editors.
An ABC NEWS spokesman tells the DRUDGE REPORT: "Do we regret that this went out? Yes. If we knew that there was no death, we wouldn't have reported at all, anything about Bob Hope. But in an effort to report was there as an urgent on the wires, quoting what a congressman had said on the floor of the House, we've had to sort it out."
It is not clear if the network called Bob Hope's agent or family for confirmation before issuing their death alert.
ABC NEWS RADIO later reported, Rep. Stump received the initial Hope Death Bulletin from House Majority leader Dick Armey, who had received the news from an office staffer that claimed to have downloaded the report from an ASSOCIATED PRESS website.
The ASSOCIATED PRESS issues a statement:
"The AP is aware of the erroneous reports that Bob Hope died today. Hope is fine and was just having breakfast at his Toluca Lake, Calif., home, according to both his longtime publicist Ward Grant and his personal secretary Jan Morrill.
"We will move a Washington-dated story explaining how the rumor got started on the floor of the House of Representatives."
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