One of the reasons its not the same is that some stations... CNN is the worst and Fox is a close second... often dont check their facts first because they want 'the scoop'. Then later when they are shown to be wrong they offer a half-hearted retraction.
Unless its a really big one like the Rolling Stone mess the last few days. Wouldnt surprise me if they are sued for millions for libel. Or of course the whole Bush-Gore Florida fiasco on election night. Or basically accusing on air, for weeks, a man for the Olympic bombing that had nothing to do with it. In that case it was because of 'sources' that they didnt check out to see whether or not they actually had full access to information and not just office rumor. Or just full of shit to begin with. Or the 'journalists' themselves were liars. Yes that has happened in the last few years. CNN, and others, really pushed hard the missing airliner story saying it was hijacked. For days and days 24 hours nonstop. We will never know the truth of that story, and neither did they, but went with it anyways.
Why? Ratings. Its not new. In the past it was selling newspapers. But back then they didnt have 24/7/365 news coverage at the click of a button. They also didnt have the room to allow many stupid idiot time to write or talk. Many times more talk than you could ever get in a daily column. If not weekly.