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:
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.