The era of (mis)communication

In light of what happened in West Virginia, I think many of us are looking for answers as to how something like this could happen. I'm not sure there will ever be an answer that satisfies either the victims' familes or even the general public. A lot of backlash has come upon the news media, and perhaps much of it is deserved. Yes, the 24-hour news cycle has made news gathering and reporting almost instantaneous. We, as humans who are curious, (and sometimes, let's all admit it, to a morbid degree) crave as much information as we can. Why, I'm not sure, except for the fact that we're just plain nosy. Ok, I don't believe all of our interest and curiosity is for self- serving reasons. Perhaps we want to feel closer to the people in our world, in spite of the fact that many out there want us to believe that technology is bringing people closer; I have to wonder sometimes if it is, instead, isolating us as a culture even more...but, that's for another day's soapbox. I wasn't a journalism major in school. Hell, I'm simply a features writer most of the time--fluff, drivel is what some other professionals in my field may call it. However, even as a fluff writer, I know the importance of checking, double-checking and triple-checking facts before I put them into print. The article linked below goes into this argument much better than I ever could. For those who like the Cliffs Notes version because you're not a news geek like me, allow me to provide a few snippets that summarize this whole horrible experience pretty damn well:

This case reminds us of a lesson we learned, at least in part, from Hurricane Katrina: Even when plausibly reliably sources such as officials pass along information, journalists should press for key details -- respectfully and courteously, but assertively. Mr. Mayor, tell us more about how you found out. Chief, can we talk to the officer or officers who actually responded to those rapes? Governor, you tell us "they" say 12 are alive; who, in this case, are "they"?--Scott Libin

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That said, I don't believe this case is one to dwell on as a major failure of news organizations, at least not in the erroneous reporting that the miners were believed to be alive. Frankly, when the Governor said they were alive and when the church bells started ringing and the families started celebrating, it would have been extremely difficult -- if not impossible -- to "hold the story" pending more verification. Sadly, this is one of those cases where the truth was tainted by the most unfortunate sort of miscommunication. But let's not be trapped in the "media blame game" syndrome on this part of a tragic story. The first reports on television and radio and the newspaper headlines were wrong in many cases, but the circumstances of this case were quite unusual and terribly unfortunate.

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However, we can and should re-examine our overall coverage of the West Virginia mining disaster story. Perhaps too many news organizations played the story too prominently in the previous 48 hours. Perhaps we fell prey to the classic story line of "trapped miners" and pushed the story too heavily on relatively slow news days. Perhaps we went overboard with the above-the-fold stories and pictures. Perhaps we got carried away with the intensive coverage on cable news and talk programs.--Bob Steele

For those who want to read the full article, here is the link. Poynter Online - Beyond the Headlines: Attribution, Verification and the Time Lapse It is a worthwhile way to spend about 10 minutes of your day, and it will really make you wonder about how we, as a culture, react to the news media, and, in turn, how it reacts to the public. It is a give and take relationship. Even I, as a "non-journalist" understands that. In an era where the news is usually not good, it isn't unreasonable to want to cling to something hopeful or "miraculous". It was only a matter of time before something like this would happen--and I can say with any certainty is that I am praying for everyone involved in this story--the victims, their families, the company members, and even the media.