The blame game is in full spate following this morning's mining tragedy/debacle in West Virginia.
Editor and Publisher calls it "one of the most disturbing and disgraceful media performances of this type in recent years."
Once the coaldust has settled on this fiasco it'll doubtlessly become clearer how the erroneous headlines came about.
I've been sifting through the wire reports that came in minute by minute early this morning to try to unpick the chronology.
AP were first with the incorrect claim -- these two alerts came in at 04:55 and 04:56GMT.
TALLMANSVILLE, West Virginia (AP) - Family members say 12 miners trapped after an explosion in West Virginia are alive.
TALLMANSVILLE, West Virginia (AP) - Twelve miners caught in an explosion in a coal mine were found alive Tuesday night, more than 41 hours after the blast, family members said.
Bells at a church where relatives had been gathering rang out as family members ran out screaming in jubilation.
It seems CNN was also mistaken early on. This snap dropped on the AFP wire at 04:58GMT:
TALLMANSVILLE, West Virginia, Jan 4 (AFP) - Twelve miners who were trapped inside a mine in West Virginia have been found alive, CNN said quoting family members.
In the 24 hour news echo-chamber, the shakily-sourced reports then took on a life of their own, spreading out within moments across TV, radio and the internet like ripples on a pond.
Wishful thinking turned into hard fact -- and was given additional credibility by West Virginia governor Joe Manchin. It took three hours for the truth to catch up.
By this time, of course, the "miracle survival" headlines has been transmitted worldwide and made their way onto the front pages of the final editions of some newspapers in the eastern US.
It wasn't until 07:59GMT that the tragic reality caught up with the media frenzy:
(AP) TALLMANSVILLE, West Virginia - Family members report that 11 of the 12 coal miners who were initially thought to have survived an explosion in a U.S. coal mine have died. The sole survivor is hospitalized.
There's and old cliche that some media outlets are "never wrong for long."
For the families of the miners killed in West Virginia, however, the consequences of this inaccuracy -- wherever it originated from -- were tragic.
posted by Stuart at 15:27
2 Comments:
Sky were reporting this afternoon that a family member overheard a phone conversation, where it was said that rescuers had found twelve people; and at least one alive.
At 5am, BBC World lead with the "unconfirmed reports" that all the trapped miners were alive; they later had footage of exhilarant relatives.
I managed to miss the intervening coverage (largely because I was asleep after a nightshift), but the point at which unconfirmed rumours become hard facts on the news is a rather dangerous one.
We were getting hints that a misinterpreted overhead cellphone conversation may have been the source in the media in Canada as well. Although they seem very reticent to admit this when the alternative (corporate America bashing) headline about "Company Officials are quoted as saying...OOOOPS!" is more mouthwatering!!!!!
Steve
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