CBS Tries To Kill Joe Paterno, Fails

January 21, 2012 | Filed under Breaking News | Posted by

When the news organization made famous by Walter Cronkite says you’re dead, you’re usually dead. Tonight CBSSports.com reported the following:

Joe Paterno, the man who for decades was synonymous with Penn State football and was known by the college football world as just “JoePa”, has died. Paterno, 85, had been receiving chemotherapy as part of his treatment for lung cancer, and complications from that treatment claimed the longtime Penn State coach’s life on Saturday.

Except that their source, a Penn State blog called Onward State, was as wrong as wrong can be.

Paterno’s family denied the report.

No other major media outlets corroborated the CBS story, since was apparently based solely on a tweet from Onward State. All in all a total black eye for CBSSports.com.

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Posted by on January 21, 2012.
Filed under Breaking News.
Kevin founded Wizbang in 2003. He still contributes occasionally and handles all the technical and design work for the site.

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  • jim_m

    I had no idea that Dan Rather was working for CBS Sports.

  • 914

    I’m sure Mary Mape’s can doctor a real looking certificate of death.

  • KenWD

    As Mark Twain once said “The rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated”.   We’ll pray for his recovery.   

  • Jwb10001

    We’re so lucky to have the MSM with all those layers of fact checkers…. From this point forward I’ll never doubt another thing they say.

  • John_LC_Silvoney

    Getting your news from Kinko’s again, eh, CBS?

  • jim_m

    ESPN is reporting that in order to make reality correspond with their reporting CBS has assassinated Joe Paterno. /black humor

    Sorry.  But Seriously ESPN is now reporting that Paterno has passed away this morning. 

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/NLDVHVBNBKSUODWOIAFHQBAHII Stan

    I am truly amazed at the hypocrisy of the state controlled media. First
    they mock and demonize a person and when that person dies, they waxed
    euphorias until they have that person put up for sainthood. Case in
    point — Joe Paterno. They called him every vile thing that they could
    print or air and now that he passed they are praising him. Go figure

  • DocEpador

    Here’s the family’s Penn State Statement:

    http://live.psu.edu/story/57324#nw44

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R7FMXY3DZP7JF7SGSPIOSLLXNE Stephen

    Reports of his death were premature…

  • http://profiles.google.com/jinxmchue Jinx McHue

    They tried to get ahead of events once again in order to “be the first” to report it.  It seems a few in the lame-stream media still haven’t learned the lessons of Florida 2000 and the “Rove indicted” debacles.

  • Camille Van Steenwyk

    Yahoo! front page says Paterno is dead. “Penn State’s Joe Paterno dies. The heralded coach succumbs not long after his program became mired in a sex abuse scandal” 

    Read http://www.yahoo.com/

  • MunDane68

    I think an Update is in order to point out, he is dead now.  For realsies…