Excellent point.  The whole episode is very instructive.<p>On Sunday the New York Times quoted &quot;law enforcement sources&quot; as saying that she had made postings on her stream.  The story got a huge amount of coverage and even came up during Tuesday&#x27;s Republican debate.<p>On Wednesday, FBI Director Comey described the reporting as &quot;grabled&quot; and clarified that no, it was just private messages -- and the Times (and others) rewrote their stories to reflect it.  But you can&#x27;t unring a bell; most people&#x27;s opinion, and even more importantly their emotional responses, are based on the original story.<p>Erik Wemple covers this well in the Washington Post [1]<p>Times&#x27; &quot;public editor&quot; Margeret Sullivan&#x27;s looks at it as well [2], noting that two of the reporters also incorrectly reported that Hillary Clinton was the target of a criminal investigation.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;blogs&#x2F;erik-wemple&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2015&#x2F;12&#x2F;16&#x2F;the-fbi-just-blasted-reporting-on-the-san-bernardino-killings&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;blogs&#x2F;erik-wemple&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2015&#x2F;12&#x2F;...</a><p>[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;12&#x2F;18&#x2F;new-york-times-san-bernardino-correction-margaret-sullivan-public-editor&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;12&#x2F;18&#x2F;new-york-ti...</a>