Thursday, January 5, 2006

by Jennifer Harper
The Washington Times
Published: 1/05/2006

Excerpt:

"When the governor himself seems to confirm the information, there are not many among us who wouldn't go with it," said Al Tompkins of the Florida-based Poynter Institute, who reviewed about 400 newspaper front-page accounts of the story yesterday.

"As in Hurricane Katrina coverage, the media has painfully discovered that official sources can be wrong. It's proof the press must not abandon traditional standards of accountability," Mr. Tompkins said.

Treatment of the events varied.

"Newsday ran a big black box headlined 'Miracle in the Mine' in white. The Rocky Mountain  News declared 'They're Alive.' The Boston Globe, however, said the miners were 'reportedly' found alive. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette got it right by literally stopping the presses and waiting until the news cleared," Mr. Tompkins said.

"Headlines in the Globe and Gazette may not be sexy, but at least they were true," he added. "Still, the timing of the events couldn't have been worse for press coverage."
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