The Associated Press Has Finally Gone About Correcting Its Lennay Kekua Reporting

Whoever said print media wasn't nimble? It's been three weeks and two days since we published our initial story, " Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax." The Te'o story has made its rounds through the national media between then and today; one might even have read about it in a publication that isn't Deadspin.

Hell, the Associated Press reported on the fraud. Only today, though, did the service get around to posting a correction on its wires:

BC-FBC—Notre Dame-Te'o,CORRECTIVE/144 Eds: Editors who used stories from Sept. 15 to Jan. 3 that referenced the death of Manti Te'o's girlfriend are asked to use the following story. Correction: References to Manti Te'o's girlfriend In a Sept. 15, 2012, story about Notre Dame's college football victory over Michigan State that highlighted linebacker Manti Te'o's performance, The Associated Press erroneously reported that he played in the game a few days after the death of his girlfriend, who had a long battle with leukemia. Other AP stories through Jan. 3, 2013, also contained references to the girlfriend's death, including some directly quoting Te'o and his father, Brian Te'o, about how he played through personal grief. On Jan. 16, Notre Dame officials and Manti Te'o said there was never a girlfriend or a death, and that Te'o was victimized in a hoax. Others have since come forward to say Te'o was duped in a series of phone calls and online messages purporting to be from a girl he never met in person.

Blammo. That's good wire copy. A fuzz late, sure. But for what it's worth, SI's still sits online uncorrected.

H/T Rich.