In the Face of Loss: America, so hopeful, now grieves for miners

Dallas Morning News | Editorials:

“How did the early reports have it so wrong? The company has its explanation about radios and codes and whatnot. But that ignores a significant piece of the story: hope.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

While it may be true that human emotion played a part in why so many people got it wrong, it does not excuse the errors by news reporters and editors. The miners' families can be forgiven for blindly latching onto any shred of positive news as true. Reporters, on the other hand, should be trained professionals and should limit their stories to facts: who, what, where and when, and, importantly, how they know. Who are the sources? How many sources? Are they independent? Are they reliable?

In The Dallas Morning News front page story, the only reported source was the governor's announcement that "they" told us they were alive. No indication who "they" were. The Dallas Morning News editors who decided to run with the story failed to identify this fatal flaw in the story. Maybe hope was the reason, but I suspect deadlines and the need to get the story played a more important role. It would no longer be "news" 24 hours later, so if The Dallas Morning News was going to have a front-page story, the editors had to go with the rumor. But they didn't have to run rumor as fact. The editors gambled with the truth and lost. And the news media's credibility takes another hit.

The news media, including The Dallas Morning News, need to investigate what went wrong in their newsrooms. And then apologize to their readers, not for having hope, but for getting it wrong. It's the professional thing to do.