united press

After Breitbart and Shirley Sherrod, We Need a Slow-News Movement

It was the biggest American news exclusive of World War I. In a breathless cable that immediately went out over the wire on Nov. 7, 1918, thrilling a war-weary world, United Press correspondent Roy Howard reported from Paris in telegraph-ese: "URGENT ARMISTICE ALLIES GERMANY SIGNED ELEVEN MORNING HOSTILITIES CEASED." The United Press scoop was marred by only one pesky factual problem -- the actual armistice was not signed until four days later, Nov. 11. The resulting reputation for unreliability helped consign the penny-pinching UP to perpetual also-ran status in its 20th-century competition ...

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