Over at Blog Houston, there was a brief discussion (about the press responbility for the “Dewey Defeats Truman” fiasco in West Virginia the other day) that got kind of lively when a Chronicle reporter dropped in to mildly complain that we of the blogsphere weren’t being fair. At least that’s how I interpret her comment.
Needless to say, she didn’t get much sympathy, but reading the replies has prompted me to return to the subject to make a point that it seems everyone is missing here. Let me say in advance that I am not apologizing for the press or defending them when I say this, but it truly appears that the whole thing had its roots in poor procedures followed by the mining company. Party A didn’t communicate the situation clearly; party B heard party A over a speakerphone and called Party C who was at the church with the relatives of the lost miners; the press got hold of the rumor, and it snowballed from there.
I’d like take this opportunity to point out that what this means is that the press has become it’s own worst enemy. Broadcast media in particular, must fill the airwaves with something. They’ll use fancy graphics, stock footage, whatever “expert” they can stick in front of a camera, and when all else fails, the anchors and reporters will gab, gab, gab to each other. In fact, the on-scene reporters do so much of that, I question if they have time to do any actual, you know, investigative reporting. So if any rumor comes their way, no matter how outlandish or unsubstantiated, they’ll report it as news, just to fill the time. Nielson forbid that the viewer get bored and leave!
Because of exactly this sort of thing it is vital that someone in the command structure must maintain control of the information flow during a disaster. It is much easier to do this at a pinpoint event like a mine explosion than it is over a widespread event like Katrina, but it’s a necessity there as well. That was certainly demonstrated last summer.
Of course, such control is absolute anathema to news organizations. The kneejerk assumption is that anyone attempting to restrict the free flow of information must be attempting to hide something. Inasmuch as such restriction allows for a clear/concise delivery of facts (as opposed to rumor), it not only allows the company to put its best foot forward, but it also saves the press from embarassing itself like it did here. Of course, it may be that the company really didn’t have a best foot to put forward, and the press is correct in assuming something is being hidden. That’s where the reporters are supposed to be earning their pay — seperating the gravel from the gold. Instead, they chase after every piece of pyrite in sight (that’s “fools gold” for the non-rockhounds out there), and force both the government and private companies to put a clamp on the distribution of facts in order to reduce the rumor generation and chaos.
The mining company failed miserably to do that. Not only did the press get hold of the false story and run amuck with a poorly sourced and unconfirmed report, but the relatives got their chains yanked because someone (or multiple someones) didn’t know what they were talking about when they leaked the news. Even if the press had behaved responsibly, that still would have happened, because it wasn’t the press that got the report to the church, it was a misguided employee and a relative. So I give the company about 15% blame and the media 85%.
Why do I still give the press so much blame if the problem started with the company, and repsonsible action by the press still wouldn’t have saved the families from an emotional roller-coaster?
Because if the media had done it’s job right, then:
a) the nation, in fact the world, wouldn’t have been fed misinformation,
b) the press wouldn’t have embarassed itself yet again,
c) the press continues refusing to learn from mistakes made in Katrina coverage, and
d) the press blew a golden opportunity to act holier-than-thou and work on repairing their image as the Holy Arbiters of Iinformation. Instead, they have to defend their shoddy work. Again.
The ultimate irony is that the national media embarassed themselves because the object of their reporting didn’t take rational action to defend itself against their poor practices. I’d like to laugh, but in the end, I have to remember: The sad thing is, this is of no comfort to the relatives of the deceased miners, however much it may cause some of us barely-repressed joy.