On this past fateful Sunday when Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crashed, killing the basketball superstar and NBA icon, along with his daughter and seven others, newsrooms across the country were left scrambling and wondering, how fast is too fast to publish this sort of devastating news?
The story was broken by TMZ.
But by the time the news of Bryant’s death went viral and a local Los Angeles news conference happened, TMZ was at the center of outrage from local authorities for distributing the devastating information before the families of those aboard the helicopter were even informed.
RELATED: TMZ Receiving Major Backlash Over Kobe Bryant Death Report Prior To Family Being Notified
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva slammed TMZ about releasing the information before officers could notify family members of the victims.
Harvey Levin, the founder of TMZ told KNX In-Depth that his staff that “Kobe’s people” confirmed the crash news. Levin says he was tipped off by a law enforcement source about the accident and that his staff held the story for a full hour before publicly releasing it.
Flip the Page to hear him try to explain it away:
