CNN's Dan Rather Moment

[Brundle_Fly]

This whole trapped miner story is proof of the cable news media's lack of ability to cover news when they spend their time directly at disaster sites, live.

I am not saying that trapped miners isn't news, but reporting information given by family members as fact sure isn't. This is a serious blow IMO to the way the 24/7's have been covering the world.

Anderson Cooper was there, in full on celebratory fashion, delivering the great news that the miners were found alive and were going to be appearing soon, his hopeful and terribly weak claim and his information gleaned from desperate family members, who's information or knowledge was suspect at best, regardless, he reported it as fact as he pretended to be the man breaking the first big story of 2006. Kudo's to you Anderson.

The 4 hour coverage of planes with landing gear problems and inclusive pre-disaster reporting... uh speculation of the impending disaster isn't news. Its hours of speculation made to draw in a viewer to a IMO disgusting rubbernecking preamble to possible disaster.

Of course, once the plane lands safely, we are quickly returned to our regular corporate news, only to get 20 second tidbits about the success of the landing every half hour.

This scandalous 24/7 news channel reporting filtered its way into the usually more so accurate newspaper reporting as well, showing that the press' easy and lazy ability to grab news stories off of Cable news. Spawned by their laziness to check the facts, and lack of institutional needs for accuracy in reporting. It makes one wonder, how often the 24/7 news channels actually screw up and start massively covered news stories that also go unchecked....and how often it is reported after the fact.

bozos//

[Marie26]

1. The nature of the beast

It's cheaper to loop footage of a plane than to report in-depth on the plight of the Sudan. Plus, an impending disaster grabs viewers in the way an analytical piece does not. Really, even the mining story was the same thing. It was easy & cheap to report - just put a CNN reporter in front of a camera in WV & they've got instant 24-hour coverage. The impending disaster factor ensures they get ratings; and the suspense ensured people stayed tuned in. (Just like the car chases they also love to broadcast). This was a serious story, but that wasn't the only reason CNN gave it constant coverage. It was also a profitable story for CNN. Sometimes I wonder how CNN reporters can find the time to gather information at all while they go on-camera every fifteen minutes. At least newspapers have time to interview people & analyze the events a little before writing a story. Course, they got it wrong too this time.

[louis-t]

2. The reporting on this disaster was a disgrace.

The headline in my morning paper screamed "THEY'RE ALIVE!". Maybe just one of the 45 or so news services could have verified the claim first. MSM ought to be ashamed of themselves. It's pure laziness.

[philarq]

3. I watched the whole damn thing last eve

and through the night, and thought something was seriously hincky fairly early when no one who was "in charge", no one who had been doing press stuff earlier, and no one from the company, came on the air and said that they were alive. The CNN people know exactly who it was that went into the church and announced that they were all alive, and identified that it was one of the Red Cross people from what they said this afternoon.

I don't think the CNN people should be faulted at all, I rather think that the Mine company failed to understand that part of their most important role was as the disseminators of factual information and rumor control.

Maybe they can get Brownie to join their team to show them the real way NOT to run a disaster.

Anderson and the CNN team were circumspect at times pointing out that the information had Not come through the regular channels and it was not confirmed. They were getting a bit frustrated also at the complete lack of information from the mine company.

If it is found that the miners were alive After the point at which the company had been informed of the accident then there needs to be some serious investigation into the fact that there were NO rescue persons on site Monday afternoon. People reporting and commentating on CNN and MsNBC were all incredulous at the length of time that passed on Monday with nothing happening.

[spooky3]

7. Thanks for sharing the facts with those of us who slept through it.

Anderson Cooper did a really good job on the Katrina story--I think he was a key reason that action FINALLY was initiated to help the victims. It was hard to square what people were saying about his reporting on this story with his reporting on that one.

[tishaLA]

12. I agree with your take completely

Here in Los Angeles, this all started to unfold at about 9.00 PM and the news about the deaths came at about 11.45, so I also got to see it all. It really was shocking--there simply was no way they COULDN'T report that the church bells were ringing and the jubilation around them. Anderson kept asking questions about who told them, trying to get information, but it was impossible.

The mining company kept the media as far away as possible--probably because they were rightly concerned about being asked hard questions about their safety practices. That tactic was to everyone's detriment.

[catnhatnh]

4. I LOVED the coverage they gave....

...to a small airliner (717) with possible landing gear problems at Logan (Boston) last month...Jackoff Rita (cosby/crosby???) msnbc-showing the plane live for those in the area who might have loved ones aboard and cutting away regularly to shots of the last dozen or so aerial disasters...real comforting that Ghoul was.... Rita-"How often do planes like this have this type of problem?". Airline "expert"-"Just once...".

[Fridays Child]

5. That whole "they're alive, in good shape, and coming to the church" story

...stunk from the very beginning. Hours and hours passed, after that announcement and, then, one miner was evacuated, unconscious, to the hospital. But the party continued.

It didn't seem like rocket science to me that things were badly messed up. Anderson Cooper, on the other hand, was stunned.

[Doctor_J]

6. If we had a real FCC, their license would be pulled this week

Luckily, the only "people" who watch CNN are wingers who like watching Leslie and the rest of the White House Propaganda Atlanta Bureau lie for Smirk.

[high density]

8. Yeah but if you watched the morning CNN program...

...they were holding up the morning newspapers and minimizing their own mistakes.

[NativeTexan]

9. It was being reported....

....by all the 24/7's at the same time! When I saw Anderson Cooper, I flipped to the others....they all had it. Everyone was looking for good news....just like the workers that got the message wrong. Even the governor was giving a thumbs-up sign coming out of the church.

[TheWebHead]

10. what else were they supposed to do

If you are live and on location, and there are church bells ringing, people screaming with joy and hugging, they have to report what they see (and what the audience sees and hears in the background) or they are insulting their audience. They didn't have access to the rescue site or the rescue communication facility, so they did the only thing they could do, rely on the few updates and remarks from the families.

It's safe to say that were the initial reports to have been later correct, you wouldn't have heard hardly a peep about how the coverage was handled, only who got it first.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. And in the worst insult of all, they turn around and blame it on you

Claiming that they're only showing what the people want to see.

They are vultures, and have not the slightest sense of professional ethics or basic decency.

[bluerum]

13. We keep paying the cable bill. Guess we should not complain.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

14. If you think CNN was bad, you should have seen Geraldo.

Upon hearing the false good news, he threw his arms around one of the family members and knocked his hat off in the process. It made me think of the question that came about during Katrina...Are you reporting the news, or are you purposely trying to become part of the news. Cooper did not seem to fall into that trap, although today all of the networks have now become part of the story.