What an embarrassing day for the news media.

[BlueCheese]

Thank goodness that Rep. Giffords survived and best wishes for her recovery. Condolences to everyone who was injured and to the families of those killed. Their well-being is of course the most important thing right now.

A side note, however, is how very poorly the news media performed today. At a time where their very survival is in some doubt, the major news organizations really botched it up. For them to remain relevant, they have to show they can be be more accurate and more reliable that basement bloggers and Internet amateurs. It doesn't get much more basic than knowing whether someone is alive or dead. But in their rush to be first, they all ended up wrong. Sadly, I think it was NPR that was first (or close to first) in saying that Giffords had died; everyone else soon chimed in, citing "reports".

It reminds me of previous snafus, such as their rush to call Florida for Bush in 2000, or when they reported that the miners in Sago, West Virginia were alive. The media really needs to understand that while everyone wants to know everything as soon as possible, they still have to do their jobs.

[Drale]

1. I agree but

when you see someone get shot in the head, generally your going to think that person is dead. That is most likely what happened. They used witness reports before there was any official release.

[FrenchieCat]

2. THe media is NEVER embarrased! They are part of the reason this country is so divided!

I personally think they are proud of that, as long as they continue getting their paychecks.

[mmonk]

7. Yes. The media has culpability.

[Pathwalker]

3. IOW: It's Saturday. They are always this bad.

n/t

[DCKit]

4. The only thing that matters is being first. nt

[renate]

5. it must be so hard to get things right in a situation like this

Obviously, "getting it right" is Job No. 1 for a reporter. But what is a reporter supposed to do if she or he knows that someone was shot in the head from a foot away and then is told, say by a police officer or EMS worker, that she's dead? She can't go and take the pulse herself.

I'm also sad that it seems to have been NPR who got it wrong. But I can see how that could happen not through sloppiness but from a normally reliable source's bad information.

[BlueCheese]

8. I agree.

It's hard. I suppose you have to ask the police, "How do you know? Did you see this firsthand?" But even then the source might be mistaken. Rumors spread, people want to be helpful and say more than they know, etc.

The Sago mine disaster was a tough one for newspapers, because word that they survived came out late at night, and they had to go to print. I remember the NYT headline was something cautious like "Miners Alive, Families Say", compared with the big jubilant headlines of many other papers in the country. It may not have been groundbreaking journalism, but it was definitely a bright spot for the NYT.

[EFerrari]

9. It's not unusual for misreporting to happen in stories like this

in the early reports.

[KatieW]

6. Same thing happend when Regan was shot. It was reported that James Brady (sp?) had died.

[BlueCheese]

12. Welcome to DU.

If I'm allowed to say that, with my < 600 posts.

[blondeatlast]

10. Kudos to the locals, though--the Tucson vidnews has been very good.

No speculation, just fact. Very, very good coverage.

[BlueCheese]

13. Yes, I agree.

[cbdo2007]

Right - one of their problems is they use other news companes as their sources.

So once NPR reported she had died, the other news places like CNN can say "now we have reports that she had died." They don't have reports from an actual source, they have reports from another news site reporting something.

This comes down to the core problem which is that no one is responsible for misreporting stuff. CNN will say NPR is at fault, yet this is really CNN's fault for not having their own sources.

[Tsiyu]

11. They're all still hungover

from last night's corporate/Congressional orgies


"Just make shit up when you can't be bothered" is the Post 911 Journalistic Model, doncha know...

[Mike 03]

14. Great Post. I do agree, even though I understand events like this are chaotic.

So far, NPR, CNN and AP have all reported that the congresswoman was dead, and then retracted it.

I think that is a disservice to everyone, not the least of which are people who know and love her.

This was not a good day for the mass media, I agree.