Overheard at the Kaiser Permanente Gilroy offices this week
following the revelation that, contrary to most headlines, 12
miners had perished deep in the tarry coal mines of West
Virginia:
”
The Mercury News has a big headline that said the miners were
rescued. Maybe this will be a lesson to those news media people to
get their facts straight before printing it.
”
Most journalists would take umbrage at such a shallow bit of
insight. After all, the Merc was in good company. USA Today:
”
Alive! Miners beat the odds.
”
Washington Post:
”
12 Found Alive in W. Va. Coal Mine.
”
Newsday:
”
Miracle in the Mine.
”
The Merc was reporting what was reported to its reporters by the
West Virginia Governor’s office, and exacerbated by the mining
company who would not confirm or dispel the information.
Overheard at the Kaiser Permanente Gilroy offices this week following the revelation that, contrary to most headlines, 12 miners had perished deep in the tarry coal mines of West Virginia: “The Mercury News has a big headline that said the miners were rescued. Maybe this will be a lesson to those news media people to get their facts straight before printing it.”
Most journalists would take umbrage at such a shallow bit of insight. After all, the Merc was in good company. USA Today: “Alive! Miners beat the odds.” Washington Post: “12 Found Alive in W. Va. Coal Mine.” Newsday: “Miracle in the Mine.” The Merc was reporting what was reported to its reporters by the West Virginia Governor’s office, and exacerbated by the mining company who would not confirm or dispel the information.
But the little old lady in Kaiser had it in her mind, undoubtedly without benefit of actually reading the Merc article, that the news media themselves were the source of the faulty news. The question of social responsibility aside, it was a lesson in human nature. People are like water; they will aim their criticisms at the channel of least resistance.
There is no noticeable outcry at the governor or toward yet another horribly run U.S. corporation whose documented malfeasance may prove to be the cause of this latest human tragedy. No, instead, it’s “those media people.”
Should the Merc reporter have crawled down an 11,000-foot hole to check for himself, or trust an institution such as the governor’s office?
While the answer is certainly not crawling down the hole, neither is trusting a governor. If the last six years has taught us anything, it is that government is capable of catastrophic screw-ups and cover-ups to hide the screw-ups.
The problem lies in the news media’s relentless obsession with getting it first rather than getting it right. God forbid if the Merc had sat on the story, waiting for independent confirmation at the scene, and then gotten beat by the Chron. Heads would have rolled. But that is exactly what the media should have done, particularly newspapers, which by definition are a day late and a dollar short anyway when it comes to breaking news. If it’s important, most readers have had their fill of the story on CNN or the blogosphere by the time they reach for their papers anyway.
Where newspapers should have a competitive edge over CNN or propaganda networks like Fox News or Air America, is in trust. And that trust is earned only by taking the time to get it right and not concerning itself with getting it first.
Maybe the little old lady in the Kaiser line was right after all – there is a lesson to be learned from the tragic deaths in Buckhannon, W. Va.
