Science worked as it should but the stories the public saw were that a once in a generation discovery had been made followed a few months later by a "scientists were wrong yet again" headline. I would argue scientists should know better than to trumpet research before peer review is concluded, but the pressure to grab attention is all too often a driving force.
So, the issue is reporting. If you look at what the people doing the research actually say it's rarely what is reported in the headlines written by someone else entirely.