Texas hoax had the media digging their own grave

guardian.co.uk ^ | 9 June 2011 | Bob Garfield

[smokingfrog]

After a psychic tip-off about a mass grave in Texas, Liberty County sheriff's department informs the media no bodies have been found.

Turned out that Liberty County sheriff's deputies had been acting on a tip from a woman who may or may not have been claiming to be a psychic, and who may or may not have had an ulterior motive in directing police to the home of the long-haul trucker who owns the place. But by then it was too late for media, in or near Greenwich mean time. They'd long since launched a journalistic corpse-a-palooza.

Agence France Presse reported that "Texas police, acting on a tip-off, found a mass grave containing 'a lot of bodies,' including the corpses of children". This is AFP we're talking about, not the hairdresser – although there was a red flag embedded in the opening paragraph. The wire service's source? "US media." That's not the hairdresser; it is equally not the horse's mouth. Reuters reported approximately the same shocking headline, but would not be so sloppy to source the news to something so vague and unaccountable as "US media". Reuters cited "local media".

Ah. Now there's some due diligence. But these were two apparently independent wire sources, giving Sky News and others the journalistic cover to play the story up as big as Texas.

CNN tweeted the grisly discovery as an uncontested fact, perhaps relying on @BreakingNews, which aggregates flashes from around the Twitterverse and told its 2.6 million followers: "Dozens of bodies found buried in Texas – KPRC." And KPRC? That is a Houston TV station, which moments earlier had tweeted: "Dozens of bodies have been found in Liberty County. Join us for KPRC at 5pm for the latest information." The source there, evidently, was "just sayin'".

[smokingfrog]

FYI

I snipped out some of the snarky bits.

[cripplecreek]

I’m still having trouble believing that they did all that based on nothing more than a tip from a psychic.

[GraceG]

What they really need is a Fake Psychic Detective who is actually a good Detective....

[linear]

I don’t think it is a big deal if they follow up on a tip, whether it be from a psychic or an anonymous person.

To me, the media is more to blame. They spun it into a done deal before they knew all the facts.

[smokingfrog]

It always seems to work out just fine on TV.

[ZX12R]

What they really need is a Fake Psychic

There is no other kind.

[smokingfrog]

One well-placed law enforcement source called it a wild scene, complete with more than two dozen news reporters and two television helicopters circling overhead. After hours of waiting, authorities finally obtained a search warrant and descended on the home, which sits on a quarter-acre lot in an unincorporated area.

Sounds like someone with Liberty County law enforcement may have leaked info to the media before the warrant was issued.

[rockrr]

I always rely on the Agence France Presse for my Texas news LOL

[Mr. Bird]

The real funny part is how the media has backtracked by mocking the sheriff. They are chuckling about how they were just head-faked by a bumpkin constable. I'm sure the reality is closer to: weirdo calls in a "tip" that there are loads of bodies in a mass grave. Responsible sheriff's office checks it out. Over eager media pounce on info obtained over scanner, or the weirdo who called in the tip calls the media as well.

What was the sheriff supposed to do? Ignore the call?

[IMR 4350]

From first reports, tipster apparently called 3 news outlets and the sheriff.

News media apparently ran with the tip and then tried to blame the sheriffs office.

[DustyMoment]

The DBM were hoist by their own petard. These self-inflating egotists who proclaim themselves to be smarter than the rest of us have long forgotten one of the practices of their Journalist-hero, Edward R. Murrow. Murrow may have been a flaming leftist of his day but, he believed that nothing got published unless there were at least two, independent sources for any story.

Today's media sock puppets are content to run to the airwaves with rumors, planted stories and stories they lifted from the wire services.

Is it any wonder that most of America now gets their news from the Internet???

[Oztrich Boy]

I don’t think it is a big deal if they follow up on a tip, whether it be from a psychic or an anonymous person.

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