Miami Sea Plane Crash: “The Pictures Were Way Ahead Of The Facts”

> Update: 7pm: FNC was the first cabler to report the crash at 2:55pm, followed by MSNBC at 2:59 and CNN at 3:03.

On today’s Daily Nightly, Brian Williams tries his hand at media criticism, and points out some cable TV flaws:

“This proved to be a bad day for initial reports from an aircraft accident. At least one cable network, via the anchor on the air and the lettering on the screen, called it a “hydroplane” crash (it’s a seaplane) and at least one network zoomed in on face-down dead bodies being towed in the water by rescue divers… apparently thinking they were living people. It was gruesome. The early reporting, as is often the case, was sketchy and ill-informed, and the pictures were way ahead of the facts. MSNBC is now showing what appears to be a cellphone photo of the smoke plume at the initial moment of the crash.”

For a long time, all the cable anchors were assuming that there were survivors on board. It must have been wrenching for the families…