NBC’s Pete Williams had to correct Paris mistake, CNN’s Jim Sciutto had to clarify

And, while Williams was rightfully called out by his colleagues and competitors, it went entirely under the radar that a CNN reporter made nearly the same mistake. He was simply quicker to fix it.

It happened Wednesday. Williams reported that of the three men in Paris suspected of shooting up the newsroom of a satirical magazine, one was dead and two were in custody. The report was repeated on NBC’s “Nightly News” and on a couple of MSNBC’s primetime programs.

Williams backtracked a few hours later. “We just don’t know what the situation is in France tonight,” he said.

Thursday night, after it had become clear that two of the suspects were at large while a third person had turned himself over to authorities (his role in the shooting, if he had one, is still unclear), NBC retracted the report. The mess was blamed on two “U.S. counterterrorism officials” who had been “reliable” previously.

A story on CNN.com called the Williams’ ordeal “an embarrassing about-face.” The news channel’s own media critic called it “a very big mess.”

But Jim Sciutto, CNN’s chief national security correspondent, nearly suffered the same fate as Williams on Wednesday. He reported that the three suspects had been arrested when they had not.

“Breaking: Paris shooting suspects ‘may have been arrested’ -Paris [Deputy] Mayor tells CNN identified as 3 men aged 18, 32 and 34,” Sciutto tweeted.

Roughly 20 minutes later, Sciutto tweeted a correction: “CORRECTION: Paris Dep. Mayor tells CNN he gave incorrect information, Paris shooting suspects [identified] but still at large.”

The difference between the two false reports is that Sciutto corrected his quickly, denying his erroneous report time to ricochet throughout CNN.

Still, had much time passed, Sciutto could have found himself in Williams’ shoes.

UPDATE: Sciutto’s tweets reflected what the deputy mayor was saying on live television. He issued a corrective tweet after the fact.