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After Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram surmised that Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory won the appeal of a 10-game suspension that would have been added to his pending four-game suspension, the national media machine kicked in to high gear, reporting that Gregory actually had won his appeal.

He apparently hasn’t.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, who initially was one of several who declared that Gregory won the appeal of his 10-game suspension, now “clarifies” his report by saying the appeal is still pending. (Is that how “Dewey Defeats Truman” was later “clarified?”)

The deeper problem is that, once a significant report emerges, outlets like NFL Media and ESPN mobilize to “confirm” the report, even if they sometimes don’t “confirm” a report but act as if they reported it first. (NFL Media, with all due respect, is the worst offender in this regard, always crediting one of its own guys and never acknowledging that one or more other outlets had it first. ESPN has improved significantly when it comes to giving credit.)

ESPN’s reporting on this one is inconsistent as well, with Dan Graziano saying that Gregory won his appeal and Ed Werder saying Gregory hasn’t been notified that he won the appeal and that there has never even been a hearing held on the issue. The article at ESPN.com mentions both reports but makes no effort to harmonize hopelessly conflicting nuggets. (As it turns out, Werder is the only one in either shop who didn’t make an ugly mistake.)

Apparently, here’s the news: Gregory is now serving a four-game suspension. His 10-game suspension is still pending. So, basically, there’s no news. And yet it somehow became news, all because NFL Media and ESPN seized on Hill’s assumption and ran with it. Right into a wall.