Miners Dead: Defending The Media

I have a hard time laying blame on the media for the miners mixup, and many e-mailers feel the same way. Here are some of their reactions to this post:

> “Blame the media? Please! Those church bells were ringing because some moron in the command center called the church, not because Geraldo made up the story — or Rita Cosby screamed ‘I found them!’ or because Anderson said ‘it’s a miracle.’ You are only as good as the information you are given. People should have couched it for sure since the state and company said nothing. but blame the media?”

> “It’s fair to say that the sourcing on the information that the miners were alive could have been questioned. But AP ran an update at 12:56 am saying that the Governor confirms that the miners were found alive. The families are not a useable direct source, but the Governor is. By the time the Governor had gotten his own confirmation (God knows from whom), the celebrations, singing, hugging and bell-ringing were in full swing. You can say — after the fact — that the only credible confirmation should have been the coal company’s, but I think it’s hard to blame this one on the press.”

> “With official sources for the ’12 alive’ news, why wouldn’t they report it? It wouldn’t have turned out any differently had they gone with the family sources or official sources, because they both said the same thing.”

> “I heard Anderson Cooper ask that question several times. (‘How do you know?’)”

> “Geraldo Rivera repeatedly asked the sprinting family members, ‘Who told you that? Where did you hear that?’