Disaster Undermined

It might not quite have packed the punch of "Dewey Defeats Truman" or "Gore Wins." But TV reports and newspaper headlines Wednesday that mistakenly stated that 12 miners had been recovered alive from the rubble of a West Virginia mine explosion left journalists struggling to explain how such a massive inaccuracy could spread across the nation's news services. Newspapers in the center and Eastern...

It was another bruising episode for the news media, but this time caused not by scandalous behavior but by simple human error: Dozens of newspapers and television and radio stations reported late Tuesday and early yesterday that 12 trapped miners in a West Virginia coal mine had been found alive, only to learn later that the report was tragically wrong. "There's no getting around the fact that the...

(January 05, 2006) -- In the wake of the Sago mine tragedy, perhaps a new category of Pulitzer Prize should be created to honor the journalists or news managers who caution that a story is not ready for prime time or publication. Unfortunately, the winning reporter or editor would likely soon be out of a job at a big time network or newsroom. "Journalism," claimed former Washington Post publisher...

As Susan Smith went to bed last night, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was whizzing off the presses. "Miracle at Sago: 12 Miners Alive" blared across the top of Page One. A photograph of women embracing stretched across six columns. A report of the city's mayoral inauguration that day peeked out below the fold. Two-thirds of the front page appeared to exhale along with a region that had held its...

NEW YORK While national news outlets from The New York Times to CNN were wrongly reporting that 12 trapped miners in West Virginia had been found alive, then later having to admit they had perished, the local Inter-Mountain newspaper of Elkins, W.Va., with the luxury of a later deadline, remained skeptical. The 11,000-circulation afternoon daily -- based just 30 miles from the mining accident...

My local daily newspaper this morning had the story of "12 West Virginia miners found alive," just as did most morning newspapers in the U.S. (To see this morning's U.S. newspaper front pages, hurry over to the Newseum's front-pages feature.) Of course, it didn't turn out that way in the end; the real facts of 12 deaths emerged in the middle of the night, well after most press runs. Now, hindsight...

NEW YORK The fallout from incorrect reports of the West Virginia mining tragedy continued for newspapers nationwide Wednesday morning with some editors taking some blame for initially reporting the wrong story, and others saying they did everything possible to get the correct information out as they knew it. As numerous front pages wrongly reported that 12 of the trapped miners in the incident had...

Last night when Times newspapers were printed, hope and jubilation about 12 trapped West Virginia miners found alive was relayed as the story of the moment; one miner was reportedly found dead as well. Those papers were printed and distributed all over our community. Despite direct quotes from West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin supporting the hoped-for news of the rescues, we know this report was...

When I went to bed last night, the news out of West Virginia was that 12 miners had survived after being trapped by a mine explosion. When the radio alarm went off this morning before dawn, I heard a news announcer saying the miners were dead. Our headline and story on the front page – "Miracles happen in West Virginia" – were dreadfully wrong. Of course I wanted to know how this happened, and I...

This morning some readers of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver received a front-page with the inspiring banner headline, "They're alive!" above a photo of jubilant residents of Tallmansville, W. Va. Of course, we know today that sadly that headline was wrong. Here's what happened. The news of the survival of the miners broke around 10 p.m., in plenty of time for our first metro edition (delivered...