In modern media, one would think reporters of any kind would realize that deleting tweets does not make what you published disappear. Nothing disappears from the internet. Once you hit that blue “Tweet” button, it’s final.
So if you’re going to report a high-profile, exclusive story about an NFL coach being fired, you better be 100% sure that’s actually the case.
Terry Collins of the Associated Press apparently did not get that memo.
With the Oakland Raiders off to an 0-4 start and coming off a humiliating transatlantic defeat to the Dolphins, Collins reported that the Raiders were firing head coach Dennis Allen. Nobody may have noticed Collins’ tweet since the AP scribe has just over 2,000 followers… except ESPN’s Adam Schefter retweeted it to his 3,000,000 followers.
There it is. RT @APtcollins: My sources tell me that @RAIDERS HC Dennis Allen is fired and an announcement could come as soon as Tuesday.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 29, 2014
Collins responded by mysteriously deleting his tweet and was called out for it by Schefter shortly thereafter.
And now, @APtcollins has deleted his tweet that Dennis Allen is fired as Raiders HC.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 29, 2014
After some time passed, Collins owned up to falsely reporting the firing of Allen.
https://twitter.com/APtcollins/status/516422190636736512
And… then things got weird. He sent a follow-up tweet saying he had no information on the status of the Raiders coach and he was never covering the story.
https://twitter.com/APtcollins/status/516427810186223616
But… um…. what about… that… uhh… that tweet when you said the Raiders were firing their head coach? Did that not count as covering the story? Was that an early April Fool’s gag? Did you get the Oakland Raiders confused with the Wright State Raiders? What happened there?
With reporting like that, Collins may have just vaulted into contention to become the next Raiders head coach when Allen actually does get fired.