The rush to judgment created a media mess

The Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs in major-league baseball was supposed to clarify the issue, but instead it turned into a huge media muddle.

There was clearly a rush to judgment, a desire for George Mitchell to name names. That manifested itself early on Thursday when New York investigative TV reporter Jonathan Dienst ran a story on wnbc.com leaking the supposed list of names of players involved with steroids and human growth hormone. That list, which included a couple of prominent Cubs players and a former player, as well as a major star with the St. Louis Cardinals, was picked up by CNBC and the Associated Press. It was discussed by midday on local media such as WSCR 670-AM, where Mike Murphy and Steve Stone addressed it.

But, according to WNBC-TV, officials with Major League Baseball soon objected to the list, saying it wasn't accurate, and wnbc.com pulled it and amended it. Editors at dailyherald.com did not publish that list, choosing instead to wait for confirmation from the Mitchell Report.

Dienst, however, stood by his sources, and WNBC.com reported it was an "original" list before the one officially released.

When the Mitchell Report was actually released, adding relatively few names to those already known to have used steroids, that created more media furor.

By releasing the report at the same time Mitchell held his media conference, no one actually had the opportunity to read it and ask Mitchell intelligent questions about it.

Later, at his own media conference, even Commissioner Bug Selig admitted, "I have yet to read the entire report," even though he had it in advance.

As the report was scrutinized, legal analysts like ESPN's Roger Cossack complained that even those named were the victims of hearsay.

ESPN's T.J. Quinn put it all in perspective by saying, "What we learned today is that George Mitchell had a lot of trouble getting people to talk to him."

"It covered the entire media," Score Program Director Mitch Rosen said of the misinformation. "It's a total mess. But we feel journalistically and ethically we covered the bases and said all the right things."