Rush to be first (was:Re: Severin's first night as a national talk host)

[Shawn Mamros]

>The rush to be first has caused some inexcusable journalistic gaffes 
>from time to time, but this wasn't one of them.  This appears to have 
>been caused by a miscommunication from the rescuers, which caused the 
>company to announce that there were 12 survivors.  The media quite 
>properly reported the company's announcement.

Actually, from accounts I've read, the media got the (incorrect) info
from the miners' families and the governor, not the mining company.
The company did err in not getting the correct info to the families
sooner, but they had never made a formal announcement to the families
or anyone else before then.  Many members of the media, in turn, erred
in not properly reporting the source(s) of their info.

The original source of the error apparently came in the relay of
communications from the rescuers underground, to a second team in a
"fresh-air" area of the mine, to the command center.  The command
center then apparently violated protocol by leaking the "good news"
to the families.  Meanwhile, the rescuers were busy trying to keep
the one surviving miner alive, and didn't communicate back until
much later, at which point the news that there was only one survivor
was finally made clear to the command center.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, so I keep tabs on the news from there on
the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's website.  They had reporters on the
scene in WV, so I prefer their accounts to the rehashed info from
the AP.  Their story on the bungled communications can be found at
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06005/632974.stm .

-Shawn Mamros
E-mail to: mamros -at- mit dot edu