How the events of Tuesday night and early Wednesday produced inaccurate newspaper headlines:
Newspapers throughout the country, including the Akron Beacon Journal, reported in their Wednesday print editions that 12 trapped West Virginia miners were found alive.
As we know now, that wasn't true.
Here's how it happened:
When the Beacon Journal initially went to press Tuesday night, at 11:30 p.m., the headlines said: ``Miners' families growing somber; Rescuers find body in W. Va mine; no word on other 12.''
Then, at 11:55 p.m., the Associated Press, one of our primary news services, moved an ``alert'' saying that families at the scene were reporting that 12 miners were alive.
At 11:58 p.m., the AP reported that family members were ``screaming in jubilation.''
At 12:03 a.m., the AP updated its report with a few more details, but said neither mine officials nor the governor were confirming the news.
At 12:07, the AP updated its report. The report included this sentence: ``A relative at the church said a mine foreman called relatives there, saying the miners had been found.''
At that point, our Beacon Journal night editors decided to update the front page. The new headlines said, ``12 miners found alive, relatives say; Family members screaming with joy; one body found.''
At 12:28 a.m., the AP updated its report again, and quoted the governor: ``They told us they have 12 alive,'' Gov. Joe Manchin said. ``We have some people that are going to need some medical attention.''
There were repeated updates on the news wires for the next two hours, with more details from the scene, including celebration and expressions of gratitude from family members. Each update reported that the mine's owner, International Coal Group Inc., had not confirmed that the 12 were alive.
But at 2:59 a.m., well after Beacon Journal editors had gone home for the night and after all of Wednesday's papers had been printed, the AP moved this alert:
``TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) -- Family members report that 11 of the 12 coal miners who were initially thought to have survived an explosion in a coal mine have died. The sole survivor is hospitalized.''
That's the sequence of events as they unfolded at the Beacon Journal on Tuesday night, and that's why the headline on most copies of Wednesday's Beacon Journal was wrong. For the miners and their families, we surely wish it hadn't been.
-- Mike Burbach, managing editor
