Plenty Of Blame To Go Around

As we noted earlier, the criticism is already pouring in for the media's collective handling of the West Virginia mine tragedy. How, many are surely wondering, could the cable networks, wire services and Web sites have been so misinformed? How could they report, even on the front pages of this morning's newspapers, that twelve miners had been rescued when, in fact, only one survived?

Instead of asking those questions, ask yourself this: How would you, as a reporter, producer or editor have handled the situation? This wasn't simply going with information from sources that went unchecked, this was covering a breaking news situation, which included covering hours of public celebration by family members who claimed they had been told of a miraculous rescue. Here's a rough timeline of how the story unfolded late last night and early this morning:

Just before midnight eastern time, according to Editor & Publisher, "newspaper reporters and anchors such as Rita Crosby [MSNBC] interviewed euphoric loved ones and helped spread the news about the miracle rescue [of 12 of 13 trapped coal miners in West Virginia]. Newspaper Web sites announced the happy news and many put it into print for Wednesday right at late deadlines." Most of these reports did not point out that the mine company had not confirmed these reports.

Those reports continued until about 2:45, when a West Virginia woman interrupted Anderson Cooper's broadcast on CNN to say that the miners were dead. "Cooper initially seemed skeptical of her comments, and nervous about repeating them on-air," writes TV Newser. "But as he heard screaming from the church, and he saw other family members crying down the road, he realized it was true." MSNBC followed the report a few minutes later, and Fox News a few minutes after that, with the grim news.

At roughly 3:00, CBSNews.com sent out an email alert saying that "[f]amily members report that 11 of the 12 coal miners who were initially thought to have survived an explosion in a coal mine have died." CBSNews.com's story was not updated for at least 18 minutes. Michael Sims, Director of News and Operations for CBSNews.com says the story was being written, adding, "while it took us 18 minutes to gather the facts, write, and publish the story, we should have placed a brief alert at the top of the site."

Also around 3:00, reports that the story had made a dramatic reversal were coming in to Bob Bicknell, the Executive Producer of "Up To The Minute," CBS's overnight news broadcast. "Up To The Minute" does 8 minute newsblocks at the top and bottom of every hour. If there's no new news in a story, they often rerun the newsblock from the previous hour. That was their plan for the 3:00 newsblock – to rerun correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi's report from 2:00. At around 2:59:45, Bicknell says, he was on the phone with producers and the national desk to try to confirm that previous reports were wrong, and that the twelve miners were in fact dead. He couldn't confirm in time, however, and so "Up To The Minute" reran the 2:00 newblock. About two minutes in, however, Bicknell says "we interrupted ourselves on tape" – breaking into a report on what had been deemed a "miracle" – for a live interview with Alfonsi, who relayed the tragic news. At 3:30 CBS correspondent Bob Orr did a new report as well from the scene. The "Early Show" featured extensive coverage, as did other networks and cable news channels.

In assessing the coverage of this story, it's vital to try and understand how this misinformation spread. As Fishbowl DC's Garrett Graff points out:

"The media wasn't going off a single anonymous source or making things up out of thin air--and it wasn't telling the families incorrectly that their relatives were alive. Wherever the incorrect information originally came from, the family members told the media about it."

Having gone back and watched some of the initial cable news coverage and read some of the early reports, a couple points jump out. First, the family and friends who were gathered to wait for word clearly were under the belief that the initial claim of 12 survivors was true (some even said an "official" had told them in person). Secondly, the actual officials themselves, including West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, behaved as if they believed it as well (whether they ever officially announced it or not).

Added on to the clear euphoria were some strange corroborating incidents. For example, when news of the rescue began to spread throughout the crowd, CNN's Andersen Cooper reported, "the governor of West Virginia, we're told, just walked out of the church and said, 'believe in miracles.'" Some of those gathered said officials had even told them there had been communication with the survivors and that they wanted to come see their families before going to the hospital, as seen on the "Early Show." And, in one of the strangest incidents, this morning CBS' Alfonsi reported this:

"Just in case you might be thinking maybe these families misheard, we were at our satellite truck … when word that there were survivors was out and a nurse came up to the truck and came over and detailed the conditions of each of those 12 survivors."

The media doesn't need any apologists, and that's not the aim here. Certainly news organizations could have been much more cautious in what they were reporting and distinguishing between what had actually been confirmed and what had not. The New York Times may have handled it the best with its morning headline, which read: "12 Miners Are Found Alive, Family Members Say." The story, written by James Dao, sourced the story to "family members and a state official."

But to say that the massive failing here rests on the shoulders of the media alone is almost as misleading as the information that was spread between midnight and 3:00am this morning.

[ontheprairie]

The majority of the media was careful to publish grammatically and objectively correct accounts regarding their sources who alledged that the 12 miners were alive. The media also sensationalized the stories at the cost of respect to the families. The media should have stepped more carefully. The families should have made judgements more cautiously. The bearers of sad news should have had more faith to make a timely profession of accountibility.

[dyn175]

In this world of "instant" everything, it stands to reason that more mistakes will be made. No media outlet can stand to bring up the rear in such an environment. The consequences of being last (for a broadcast enterprise) are lost viewers and competetitors' advertisements touting their coverage. Such a situation does not lead to the careful checking of facts. Not all that many years ago, the media wanted to avoid having to publish or air corrections at all cost. Now, the newspaper I read has them virtually every day. The electronic media seems different. It seems that broadcasters acknowledge errors only when they are so large that they are obvious to everyone, or when the offended party's attorney threatens to sue. Regarding the graphic photo of the grieving woman on CBS News' main page: Whether we like it or not, when we are in a public place, we are fair game for such photos. That's just the way the law works in our country.

[deafanddumb-2009]

Sadly, the news "criers" do tend to dramatize the course of events to garner the largest crowd possible; and many times what is labeled as "fair and unbiased" is more than just a little bit valenced toward one end or the other; however, in this case I think the media tried to report this situation in a reasonably decent and responsible manner. There should have been more emphasis put on verification of any alive/dead status reported regarding the trapped miners, as this would have more aptly respected the highly vulnerable emotional status of the families. I prayed for the miners and their families and I now I will continue to pray for their loved one's sustainment.

[marycmcf]

The governor isn't the only person who wants to believe in miracles, but sometimes miracles are simply reality misunderstood. The media - news and advertising - has fostered the false notion that things happen in an instant and are understood almost immediately. This makes it easy to confuse instinct with wishful thinking. Add to that the rush to be first with the best pictures, and context is ignored. The truth took very little time to verify. The haziness and lack of genuine evidence of the reports about men being alive should have been a clue as to their verity. Adding conditional references below a headline or after an assertion, such as "this hasn't been confirmed," do little to alleviate the impact of the intitial proclamation. Television hypes everything from sitcoms to news stories as an "event," then finds people to prove how important that event is. Impatience might be exciting, might get people to watch or read, but it is a shallow emotion, especially when compared to the depth of grief.

[purevanill]

I happened to be up late last night as the news broke of the tragic death of the miners. You say that the massive failing of information does not rest on the shoulders of the media. However, from what i saw at the time the story broke was a media that took absolutely no responsibilty. Anderson Cooper was at his obnoxious best, blaming everyone but the media and himself. I do not mean to beat up on only CNN -- although 24 news channels desperately fill air time even when there is nothing to add. All the networks got it wrong. (I was most impressed with NBC. Their seasoned anchor Robert Hager who seemed to exercise caution. Perhaps there is something to say about experience.) The Govenor's press conference at 3am was another embarassment for the media as they again attacked liked vultures knowing that the full facts would not be available immediately. The news media are wolves and #?*@%$. They run to get a story, embellishing it when needed. Despite the sad and grim faces, i venture to say that none of them cares about the lives of those they report. A tragedy with many deaths makes for a good news story, and each reporter wants that air time. On a different note, i was also awake early in the morning December 14, 2003 when news of Sadaam's capture was coming in. In New York City, CBS News (along with NBC and ABC) were AWOL for the most exciting hour of news history until the 6am hour.

[hs_nc]

I don't think anyone is solely blaming the media...and actually I would love to see Alfonsi interview the woman who claimed to see the 12 victims and described the shape they were in. Is there a link to the live report of the deaths you mentioned? B/c I have yet to see an actual report Live--as it was happening--I am curious to see how it actually unfolded in real time. I think the bigger question at this point is...when is enough enough? When does the press decide this isn't a story anymore and give the families space and privacy? Look at the following web sites, CNN, Fox, MSNBC and ABCNews..and look at the pictures they have vs the one CBS has posted. MSNBC comes close..but it is not nearly as graphic. I would love to hear the reasoning behind having such an image on your site...It is a horrible situation and I don't think anyone thinks it is more horrible or less horrible based on images..but if that was me or my family..I would not want that image front and center on the CBS site all day. Until there is news (someone takes responsibility for the miscommunication, there is a press conference, etc)--what is the point of having cameras and reporters in people's faces all day long? It is not adding to the story...the story already happened. The families are traumatized as you would expect--no news there. They are angry...expected.