TWELVE ALIVE

[jokostel]

how true...

[Indian]

sensational journalism

[twistedbrntucker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jokostel

i wonder who opened their mouth and blabbed information before others could confirm it...... that is ONE thing you DON'T do in a situation like this.... i just hope the families will be able to deal with all of this... since this is probably the worst thing they will ever encounter in their lifetimes... im not sure how else to say it...

Sad thing the families were told of them being alive first at the church before media was informed.I watched last night for most of the evening.They kept the media away 500 feet from the families

[osprey4]

Does anyone else hear the sound of lawyers rushing to West Virginia?

[paul9]

Prayers go out to the miners and their families. Repect to coal and other miners everywhere. It is a dangerous job. This tragedy shows just how dangerous.

[PhilosopherKing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by osprey4

Does anyone else hear the sound of lawyers rushing to West Virginia?

[sarcasm]


Hey, dem sharks gotta eat too!


[/sarcasm]

[TOAD6147]

Quote:

Does anyone else hear the sound of lawyers rushing to West Virginia?

Not quite like you do, Osprey4.

[Theophylact]

headsuptheblog has some useful reminders for journalists:

Quote:

The mine disaster: Attribution's your friend

There's an instructive turning point in the AP's coverage of the West Virginia mine disaster. It reminds us, or ought to remind us, of a few phrases that ought to be translated into Latin and etched in stone above the copy desk, so we can point to them when needed:

1) If attribution is part of the story, it's part of the hed.
2) Speculation isn't confirmation.
3) Repetition isn't confirmation.

You can trace the event in more detail elsewhere, so let's concentrate here on matters of importance to desk hands and other nightwalkers (and yes, this is your invitation to join in the discussion and/or recount what went on at your paper).

Here's the AP at 10:16p:
TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. -- Rescue crews found one body late Tuesday in a West Virginia mine where 13 miners were trapped after an explosion, but they held out hope that the others were still alive, even as precious time continued to slip away.

And the 26th lede, at 10:56p:
TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. --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.

This graf is one of four added in the 27th lede, at 11:01:
Neither the company nor the governor's office immediately confirmed the news.

... and this in the 28th lede, which moved four minutes later with a change in byline:
A relative at the church said a mine foreman called relatives there, saying the miners had been found.

At 11:15p the story's written through, with the no-confirmation warning and the attribution still in place. At 11:25p comes the 30th lede and the big change:
TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. -- In an extraordinary twist of fate, 12 miners caught in an explosion in a coal mine were found alive late Tuesday, more than 41 hours after the blast.

Here's the ednote from the top of the story and the new fourth graf supporting it:
Eds: UPDATES with governor confirming miners are alive, other details.
"They told us they have 12 alive," Gov. Joe Manchin said. "We have some people that are going to need some medical attention." ...

[some interesting parallels with the Katrina story are made]

...In the AP's case, somebody should have asked a nice, simple grammar question: "What's the antecedent of 'they'?" And until the governor clarified whether "they" was the people in touch with the rescue crews or the folks at the church who got the bad phone call, the attribution, and the caution, needed to stay. Bad information doesn't get better by repetition. But by now, the prose train has left the station:

Twelve miners caught in an explosion in a coal mine were found alive Tuesday night, sending family members streaming from the church where they had gathered during the nearly two-day ordeal.

... and heds like "Miner Miracle"* are the predictably ugly result.