The story of flight attendant Steven Slater is a perfect example of why it is important to get all of the facts before overcovering a story. And another sad example of how the media today will latch on to a narrative and drive it into the ground much too quickly.

Last week, Slater, the former Jet Blue flight attendant, went into an angry rant after a plane landed and jumped out -- with beer in hand -- claiming he had been badly treated by a passenger and was hit in the head with an overhead bag.

Soon after his story spread, some news outlets proclaimed him a hero and a great spokesman for the abused daily workers of today.

The Daily News of New York even said he would bump hero pilot Chesley Sullenberger from the country's memory:

Workers of the world united Tuesday behind Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who took his job and shoved it right down an emergency slide - with a couple of beers in hand.

In the span of a day, the 38-year-old Queens man went from long-suffering airline steward to icon for frustrated wage earners everywhere.

“Free Steven Slater” T-shirts were being peddled on the Web, and several Facebook tribute pages garnered tens of thousands of fans before noon.

“Talk about making a grand exit!” Edward Christopher Dordon wrote on one site. “And he remembered to take some beer with him!”

But as days passed, several passengers came forward to say Slater was nothing more than an angry flight attendant who had been mean to some passengers the entire trip and had perhaps even been hit in the head with the bag at the beginning of the trip.

“An internal memo from JetBlue reportedly states the company has so far been unable to confirm flight attendant Steven Slater's version of events on that flight from Pittsburgh to New York,” AP reported. “The Associated Press, which obtained a copy of the memo, reports the airline has not found anyone who was on that flight who can corroborate Slater's story that he was involved in a nasty dispute with a passenger.”

So now the narrative changes. Perhaps Slater is neither hero nor villain, just a worker who made a mistake and will likely pay for it. Also mistaken appears to be many of the media who are too quick to jump on a good story and believe it without checking the facts.

One good result perhaps for Slater: he has reportedly been given a reality TV show offer.

The Washington Post today offered a good post-mortem on the coverage and on Slater himself.