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MarketWatch First Take

CNN and Fox's Dewey defeats Truman moment

Updates to include CNN statement.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- It was the biggest Supreme Court decision in years, and CNN had it first -- the high court struck down the individual mandate.

Great, breaking news journalism -- except that it was entirely wrong. The Supreme Court upheld the mandate and most of the Affordable Care Act. Read "Supreme Court upholds health-care overhaul."

CNN, a unit of Time Warner Inc. (TWX) ,was in all likelihood undone by an understandable, if unforgivable, mistake: the Supreme Court majority did say that the health care mandate was unconstitutional under the so-called Commerce Clause. But the court also held that the law is constitutional as a tax. So, it's legal.

(A formal statement from CNN confirms that's exactly what happened; the news agency said it corrected the news within minutes and apologized for the error.)

They weren't the only ones who messed up, either. Instants later, Fox News, which like MarketWatch is owned by News Corp. (NWS) , made the same mistake.

How did they get it so badly wrong?

In part, it's because of the archaic reporting rules at the Supreme Court. There's no real-time audio of the justices speaking, or real-time distribution of the cases, and severe technological limitations on the reporters who cram into the court.

In fact, it took roughly a half-hour for the court to put the case up on its own website.

Other branches of the government don't struggle as much. Economic reports, for instance, are handled under embargo, with some government agencies outfitting a black box to prevent early release. Other information hits the relevant websites instantly, or within a minute or two of release.

Only the Supreme Court struggles so much with dissemination. Its cumbersome distribution approach clearly played a big role for a major news organization to fail in such an epic way.

But for CNN and Fox News, another lesson -- yes, it's important to get it first. It's more important to get it right.

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