In an effort to be first, WIAT Anchor Jack Royer tweeted out the news that 3-year-old Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney who is believed to have been kidnapped had been found.

It was news that many people in Birmingham and across the country were happy to hear. There was just one small problem.

Other stations in the market were reporting that little Cupcake was not found.

Viewers were not happy with Royer.

It was time for Royer to try and put the toothpaste back in the tube:

Maybe, just maybe you should have “worked to confirm” before putting out the first couple of tweets.

Then Royer came with this news:

Finally it was time to hit the delete button:

Now, to Royer’s defense, the Sheriff’s office, who is NOT the lead agency on this case did admit in a press release that they gave WIAT wrong information.

They sent out a press release admitting as much:

But, the problem is Royer and the station will take much more heat on getting this wrong than the Sheirff’s office.

If they were not the lead agency, the station should have waited until the lead agency confirmed the story or one of your crews on the scene did. Tweeting out news like this put many on an emotional rollercoaster. It would have been a much better idea to wait for solid confirmation from a crew on the scene.

Royer just shot his credibility as a Journalist all to hell in a couple of tweets.

Trust your crews on the scene and what they see with their own eyes and mistakes like this will not happen.

Wait and confirm on a big story like this is the best way to approach the news.