In one of the more major media failings in a long line of media failings last week, Brown University student Sunil Tripathi, who'd been missing since March 16, was widely identified as a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. Though the origins of the rumor are difficult to pin down, it appears as if the speculation about Tripathi's involvement in the attack began on Reddit before making the leap to Twitter, various news outlets (including this one), and even, reportedly, police scanners. In the chaos that ensued, Tripathi's family members were inundated with dozens of phone calls from reporters—his sister got nearly 60—and were forced to take down a Facebook page dedicated to finding Tripathi after it became littered with "hateful, angry posts." This morning, a body pulled from the Providence River was officially identified as Sunil Tripathi's, finally putting to rest the rumor mill that had made his family's life hell last week. No foul play is suspected in his death.

Here's video of UC-Santa Cruz student Gennady Tsarinsky, 25, getting his "2 pound" (or maybe "2.5 pound") joint jacked by a buzzkill campus narc on 4/20. "Dude, we're going to court, man. We're totally going to court," you can hear Tsarinsky say, just before getting hauled in for possession. So he was right!

Paul Kevin Curtis, the Elvis impersonator accused of sending ricin-laden letters to President Obama and others, had his charges dropped yesterday when federal authorities said they'd found "new information." Naturally, Curtis was ecstatic, and this afternoon he took to CNN to express his excitement and relief. After giving a standard interview in which he basically said he's hoping to parlay his poisoning charges into a life of celebrity, Curtis then broke into the Randy Travis song "On the Other Hand" at the CNN reporter's request. If you've not been paying attention, it has not been a banner week for CNN.

BREAKING: Newspaper reporting is the worst. For newspaper reporters.

If Politico is to be believed, there is trouble brewing at the New York Times. The story by Dylan Byers, "Turbulence at The Times," focuses on resentment amongst the newspaper's staff over executive editor Jill Abramson's leadership.

Disclosure. Disclosure! I like Frank Rich, based on my small but existent amount of contact with him in the course of my work. And as someone who is well-enough employed, in the unstable business of journalism, and who is still not too old to have maybe have a chance to eventually become better employed, I am also wary of Frank Rich. The former New York Times theater critic-turned-columnist, now a New York magazine writer and an HBO something-or-other, exists within a network of powerful goodwill and even more powerful professional obligation.

CNN's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week was great news for Jon Stewart.

As the scene in Watertown, Mass escalated, news channels were, understandably, confused about exactly what was happening. One brave reporter for New England Cable News admitted as much live on the air, albeit accidentally. As Brian Williams cut to the channel, an unidentified reporter can be heard saying "Oh, you're not listening? Well, I don't know shit."

New York Post readers received an apology today for the paper's reckless and sloppy coverage of the marathon bombings.

Last night around 3:00 a.m., at the conclusion of several hours of insane police-scanner monitoring and reports of gunfights and explosions in the Boston suburbs, local law enforcement officials on their working radio band identified their quarry by name:

This morning, the New York Post published on its front page a photo of two spectators near the Boston Marathon finish line, one wearing a backpack and one with a duffel bag slung at his side, under the headline "BAG MEN."

CNN's reporting of an arrest having been made in connection with Monday's Boston Marathon bombing turned out to be stupendously wrong, but at least it allowed Jon Stewart to do what he does best: Tear into a so-called news network for royally screwing up its one job.

"BAG MEN," the New York Post's front cover brays this morning, underneath a photo of two Boston Marathon spectators. "Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon." After its embarrassing performance on Monday in the aftermath of the marathon bombings, has the Post redeemed itself by scooping the first, much-discussed photos of the suspects?

Daily News, caught doctoring gore out of a bombing photo, says "everybody in the media should have been this sensitive."

Following the clusterfuck that was—and continues to be!—the media's coverage of Monday's Boston Marathon bombing, the latest disaster being CNN's completely false scoop that a suspect had been arrested, the FBI is finally sick of everyone's shit. This afternoon, the federal police body released this statement, which explains that there have been no arrests and that the FBI thinks the media is a bunch of rubes:

In the confusion around the Boston Marathon bombing yesterday, as facts came and went, the New York Post staked out two dramatic claims: at least a dozen people were dead, and the authorities had a Saudi man in custody as a suspect.

BuzzFeed, your go-to source for lists of animals, snuff videos, and racial superiority propaganda, has posted a fascinating new political story about the persistent personal rumors dogging Sen. Marco Rubio. Well, "about" might not be the right word. The story, by McKay Coppins, is premised on the existence of the rumors, and clearly relies on reporting and interviews during which the rumors were discussed. The only thing missing is the rumors themselves, because, Hey, BuzzFeed doesn't traffic in rumors!

One thing that's essential in the ongoing discussion about how to regulate guns, everyone agrees, is to hear the voices of ordinary, law-abiding gun owners. So here's columnist Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post, explaining why proposed gun restrictions won't prevent gun crime:

In a move that's sure to inspire thousands of sad-face GIF reposts, social-blogging site Tumblr declared Storyboard, its ambitious year-old editorial initiative, an unqualified success Tuesday night and immediately celebrated by shutting it down and canning its entire crew.

Last night, during the Mad Men season premiere, New York magazine published the definitive account of internet animal-photography-distribution platform Buzzfeed. Here are some of the coolest things we learned about Jonah Peretti's awesome advertorial platform: