How the media got it wrong - editTeach



How the media got it wrong

Inadequate sourcing and poor timing were cited for stories that didn't hold up. "An awful night," one news anchor said.

By Larry Eichel

Inquirer Staff Writer

In Philadelphia and much of the country yesterday, Americans awoke to newspaper front pages proclaiming, with varying degrees of certainty, that 12 of the West Virginia miners had been found alive.

To a large degree, this unfortunate and embarrassing error was the result of bad timing.

Word that family members had been told of the miners' survival moved on the Associated Press wire at 11:52 p.m. Tuesday, when papers in the Eastern half of the country were on or past deadline. News that only one man had survived did not move until 2:50 a.m., when press runs were well under way.

Even so, some media analysts and professionals had harsh words for newspapers and television - for not stressing the lack of any eyewitnesses to the well-being of the miners.

In an online commentary, Greg Mitchell, editor of the industry publication Editor & Publisher, called the coverage "one of the most disturbing and disgraceful media performances of this type in recent years."

NBC News anchor Brian Williams wrote in his blog: "The coverage was joyous, breathless and few cautions were ever voiced... . What an awful night for the news media."

CNN president Jonathan Klein offered no apologies, describing the sourcing of the report that the men were alive as "pretty solid" and adding: "This situation points to the strength of TV news coverage because we were able to correct as better information developed."

Analysts generally were measured in their criticism, with some wondering how reporters could maintain skepticism in the face of ringing church bells and celebrating relatives.

And the experts noted that journalists were undoubtedly reassured by wire-service accounts quoting West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin as saying the men were alive.

"The question that a lot of journalists probably wish had been asked of the governor is, 'How do you know that?' " said former Inquirer managing editor Butch Ward, senior fellow at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank based in Florida. "The national press corps is asking it more often to officials in Washington and being called arrogant for asking. But it's an important question to ask."

Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Washington-based Project for Excellence in Journalism, said the episode showed the need for reporters and editors to make clear to media consumers what is and is not known.

"More than ever, journalists have to acknowledge the limits of their knowledge," Rosenstiel said. "If you have doubts, signal the doubts."

The New York Times attributed word of the miners' survival to "family members and a state official" in its news story. In some editions, its headline stated simply: "12 Miners Found Alive 41 Hours After Explosion"; in others, it included the words "Family Members Say."

The Inquirer attributed the news to family members and the governor in its story but attached no such caveat to its headline: "Joy at mine: 12 are alive."

The Washington Post reported the miners' survival as fact, with no attribution in the lead of the story or the headline. Others did the same.

While most newspapers in the East were unable to stop their presses to get the correct story in any copies, a few did.

The Boston Globe managed to get updated information into 145,000 of its 414,000 papers, according to its editor.

And the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which had run the headline "Miracle at Sago, 12 Miners Alive" in a previous edition, stopped the presses from 3:18 to 4 a.m. and got the right story in 114,000 of its 256,000 papers.

The Inquirer did not stop the presses. When the word that the miners were dead came across, there was no one in the Inquirer newsroom to see it, the last editor having left at 2 a.m.

According to managing editor Anne Gordon, a pressroom supervisor saw the news on television about 3 a.m., then woke a senior editor at home and asked what to do. At the time, there were still 114,000 papers to be printed, an unusually high number because printing was delayed for the results of the Orange Bowl.

Aware that the newsroom was empty - and knowing that no one had the technological capability to make the changes from home - the senior editor told the supervisor to keep the presses running.

"We've already started working on getting five key people the ability to make those kinds of changes from home," Gordon said. "That's the lesson we've learned."

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