It seems in an effort to be first, some news outlets were free falling down the slippery slope. 

I won't back down and tell you that CBS News first reported that rocker Tom Petty was dead when that was not yet the case. 

It seems that there was some sort of breakdown in communications that CBS News got from the LAPD and they reported Petty was dead when he was not. 

Other media outlets wanted to be a face in the crowd and they also reported that Petty was dead. It appears that they were fooled again. 

CBS News also released a statement maintaining that it “reported information obtained officially from the LAPD about Tom Petty.”

I guess it's time to move on, but it would still be nice if the media was more concerned with being right than being first. 

It appears they were fooled again. 

Petty eventual did die, but that does not make it better,  he was 66 years old. 

WZTV killed off Petty, only to bring him back to life 55 minutes later: 

As for KGUN in Tucson, they don't even know who Tom Petty is.