How our mistake about Giffords’s death hurt the families

At 2:08, a distraught family member called: “Scott, where the hell is NPR getting that information?”…

Simon, who first believed NPR’s report, also faced the emotional task of telling his two young daughters, who know Giffords well, that the congresswoman was dead, and later explaining that she wasn’t.

“Take our pain and confusion and multiply by, oh, a hundred or so for the Giffords’ family,” said Simon.

After learning the report was wrong, Simon called the family member. “But I made no attempt to defend NPR,” said Simon. “Someone believed for a moment that she had died. In fact, more than one person did. The mistake NPR made was reprehensible.”