Boy, do I remember that, and I was only 11! Frank Reynolds had a total meltdown, pounding the anchor desk with his fists and screaming at everyone behind him to "GET THE #@%@# FACTS STRAIGHT!" or somesuch. It was actually one of the more honest moments in the history of TV journalism, if you ask me.
But as far as I'm concerned, CNN totally blew past that mistake with their 9/11 coverage. How many times did they screw up between 9 am and noon that day? First it was just a prop plane accident. Then they kept reporting over and over that "faulty guidance systems are leading these aircraft into the buildings." Then the State Department was being bombed. Then an explosion at the Capitol. And several other things I'm forgetting about at the moment. Basically, on 9/11, if anyone employed by CNN heard anyone on earth repeat any rumor whatsoever, it ended up on air, repeated over and over until it was disproven. I think all in all, what they did was far worse than ABC's Jim Brady screwup in '81.
I miss the late Frank Reynolds. As colorless an anchorman as you'd ever see in the big chair but he went nuclear when he had to retract that story. It was priceless television.