Competition to be first breeds inaccuracies

As I sat in front of my computer these past few days, I watched my home page MSN report on the Oklahoma tornado tragedy. Just as tragic as the aftermath that these poor people are enduring were the inaccuracies being reported on that website.The first count of fatalities was reported as 12, that quickly jumped to 51 and then boom, back down to 24, where it stayed for a while. I call this yo-yo reporting. In an undying quest to be the first with exclusive, breaking news it seems that fact-checking isn't a priority. This seemed like a repeat of similar mistakes reported about information related to the Boston Marathon bombing. Remember that?It got to the point where I didn't know what to believe in that situation. From the shootout in the neighborhood, to the bombs, to the conversations, there was faulty reporting in just about every phase of that nightmare.It's sad that these supposed "news outlets" consider themselves journalists. It's an embarrassment to the profession. Woodward and Bernstein would never let this happen.