Reporters broadcast and printed stories told to them by someone who heard from someone that an unofficial source called someone else on a cell phone and said that 12 men survived the mining accident. They got it wrong, plain and simple. And this is not the first time in recent history.
Journalists still report that Valerie Plame was a covert CIA operative, yet she was not covert as defined in the law. Reporters said that John Paul II was dead hours before he had passed. News organizations asserted during the 2004 presidential election that a forged document, which was obviously created with Microsoft Word, had been generated in 1972. And then we have all the false reports about New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.
Journalism is the only profession specifically protected by the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the United States. Reporters, who have a defined role in a free society, are often accused of liberal bias and attempting to falsely influence politics. But Americans can see through their bias with the help of new media. Real damage comes from passive acceptance of false reporting.
Consider. The Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States has been indicted on flimsy charges of perjury and obstruction of justice based on the false reports about Valerie Plame. The once-vaunted CBS was disgraced and forced to fire its leading anchor because of a document scandal. And the most notable statement spawned by hurricane Katrina? “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
Remember the mine tragedy and pray for comfort of families and those who loved the lost. But do not forget that reporters never had one official source for their assertion in broadcast and print that men survived, when they actually perished. The pain of grieving loved ones would not be relieved one bit by introspection of journalists, but the damage irresponsible media may cause in the future should be.
couldn't agree more. when i see that poor man, the head of the company, who appears to have done all he could and the best he could despite being up day and night, apologizing, it breaks my heart. i am furious at the press and its disastrous performance in this. they have gone from anonymous sources to no sourcing or fact checking at all. they deserve extinction.
I thought Geraldo "I'm going to expose all the loot hidden in Al Capone's vault" Rivera's rants were especially ironic. Someone needs to tell the media to put a sock in it when it comes to getting stories right. Pots, kettles, etc.
The Atlanta Urinal didn't even bother to pull it's copies
of "12 miners found Alive" from it's street boxes, I meant
to get one just to save as a reminder of how bad old media
can be.