Mine Accidents Are Not Just Stories

By Ralph E. Hanson
January 10, 2006
Charleston Daily Mail

For the last few days northern West Virginia has been the epicenter of round-the-clock coverage of the Sago mine disaster. For those of us who live here, this is not a made-for-television saga, this is a hometown story. Our friends and neighbors are coal miners.

So let me start by saying that journalists, especially those in the national press corps, need to remember that this is a story about real people with real losses. This is not an opportunity to feed the beast with compelling stories - this is a story about the worst thing people can imagine.

The inaccurate reports of 12 miners being found alive came out just before midnight Tuesday.  Now if you have ever worked in the newspaper business, you know that morning papers start going to press around midnight (if not a little earlier). Newspapers have to make really tough calls on a breaking story, and unlike television, they leave a permanent reminder of the times they get it wrong.

Over my morning coffee Wednesday, I read the good news, and I knew immediately that something was still wrong.  The report read:

Twelve miners caught in an explosion in a coal mine were found alive Tuesday night, more than 41 hours after the blast, family members and Gov. Joe Manchin III said.

Bells at a church where relatives had been gathering rang out as family members ran out screaming in jubilation.

Relatives yelled, "They're alive!"

Manchin said rescuers told him the miners were found.

"They told us they have 12 alive," Manchin said. "We have some people that are going to need some medical attention."

A few minutes after word came, the throng, several hundred strong, broke into a chorus of the hymn "How Great Thou Art," in a chilly, night air.

How could a reader tell there were problems with the story?

• There were no official sources cited, other than the governor.
• When the governor made his statement, he noted "They told us..." Not a name, "they."
• Later on the story said, "The company did not immediately confirm the news."
• There were no details on condition or where the miners were found.

 In short, the story read like it was passing along second-hand accounts. When I went to a newspaper site on the Internet to see the latest updates, all the bad news was there.

How did the press go so wrong with this story?

• There was the understandable problem of midnight deadlines. It's very difficult to handle a breaking story under these circumstances. But news organizations certainly could have been clearer on the unconfirmed nature of the reports.
• News organizations have gotten way too comfortable passing on unconfirmed stories that originate in the realm of blogs and rumors. No longer does a story have to be true, it just has to be true that the story is out there. When we are dealing with rumors about misconduct by politicians whose reality is more subject to interpretation, perhaps this is ok (though I don't really think so). But when we are talking about the lives or ordinary people, this just doesn't cut it.
• The facts of the news didn't match the story reporters were looking for. Journalists, especially the national press, were looking for a "miracle story" where people’s prayers would be answered and everything would turn out fine.  When reporters thought they found that story.  They reported it.  Tragically, that wasn’t the way the story actually turned out.

So what can journalists do to atone for our sins? The national press needs to remember what much of the West Virginia press already knows – that mine safety isn’t just a story when people are trapped underground.  Let's hope that the national press doesn't forget this lesson quickly. The people of West Virginia will not.

Hanson is an associate professor of journalism at West Virginia University.