Two-thirty in the morning is a difficult time for a big news story to break.

Across the country, banner headlines in thousands of early editions screamed the false news that a dozen miners trapped underground near Buckhannon, W.Va., had been found alive.

Some, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, were able to stop the presses before printing was complete and print editions with the correct news: 11 were dead, and the family members pictured in jubilation on front pages had been plunged into grief after learning the earlier report was wrong.

Other newspapers weren't so lucky, and were left with erroneous headlines and stories in all their editions. Some, like USA Today, were able to make updates. Still others hedged their bets: The Boston Globe, in its headline, said that the miners were "reportedly" alive.

At news media outlets across the country, yesterday morning's episode raised serious questions about attribution and confirmation in quick-breaking news stories. In light of the stunning turnaround in the news, editors wondered whether they should have waited for official confirmation of the news that 12 miners were alive, or at least emphasized that the news came from family members, not mine company or state officials.

"These are hard questions, harder still coming at a late hour, and we'll be asking them for weeks and months into the future," said David M. Shribman, executive editor of the Post-Gazette.

Several hours after printing in early editions that the 12 miners had been found alive, a handful of Post-Gazette staffers still in the newsroom at around 2:30 a.m. learned that the opposite was true: that all but one had died.

After stopping the presses at 3 a.m., replacing headlines, photo captions and re-editing stories to reflect the tragic turn of events, they were able to deliver 128,000 copies of the Post-Gazette's 256,000 papers with accurate information to subscribers, said Post-Gazette Managing Editor Susan Smith, while updating the story continuously on the newspaper's Web site.

"Joy At Mine: 12 Are Alive" was the headline in all of the print editions published by The Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday.

That paper had nearly finished its entire 377,000-paper press run when a supervisor at its printing facility saw an Associated Press report at 2:49 p.m. saying most of the miners had perished. The supervisor contacted editorial staffers, who conferred and decided it was too late to stop the presses, said Anne Gordon, the Inquirer's managing editor.

"We regret it," Ms. Gordon said. "I looked at my paper this morning and went, 'Ooohhh.' Whether we have 300,000 or three copies of newspapers left to print, a story needs to be right and we weren't right."

At The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, the paper began printing its first edition of 215,000 papers at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday with the headline: "Mine Rescue Crews Race Against Time." At 11:59 p.m., the first "urgent" dispatch from The Associated Press appeared, quoting families saying the miners had been found alive, said Tom O'Hara, The Plain Dealer's managing editor.

For that newspaper's second run of 140,000 more papers at 1 a.m. yesterday, the front page was remade to reflect that news, with the headline: "They're Alive." But by the time CNN first started broadcasting reports that the miners had died, around 2:30 a.m., "we were long gone," said Mr. O'Hara, noting that the newspaper is committed to getting the print edition on readers' doorsteps by 5:30 a.m.

Some readers complained, he said, "but most understand how these things work."

Even newspapers closer to the scene struggled with the constraints of print deadlines. At the Charleston, W.Va., Gazette, 20,000 copies of the first edition only reported that the body of a miner had been found, while rescue efforts were continuing for the others, said Robert Byers, city editor.

But just before the final edition of 30,000 papers was to go to press, at 10 minutes before midnight, reporters on the scene called the Gazette newsroom to say that family members were saying the miners had been found alive, followed by reports from The Associated Press and CNN.

"The clincher was when Gov. Joe Manchin made the statement that a miracle occurred, so that was when we decided to remake everything," Mr. Byers said.

At 1:30 a.m., the Charleston Gazette issued a final edition with a headline that said "Twelve Alive."

"Then I went home, and at 3 a.m., I got a call that the 12 miners were dead," he said. With 19,000 papers left to print, the Gazette stopped the presses and a reporter and an editor remade the paper again.

"Given that only 10,000 copies, out of 50,000 total, of our newspapers said the miners were alive, I don't think that's something I feel the public is going to hold us accountable for," said Mr. Byers. "That was the news at the time and we did the best we could."