Miners, miscommunication, and media with egg on their faces

When I went to bed last night, it was to the news that the 12 missing miners in
West Virginia had been found alive, and they were awaiting official word from
the command center. A local hospital claimed to have one survivor, but could not
release any information about him to the media - nor could they answer any
questions about other possible survivors.

This morning, I woke to discover that the news was wrong: that, in fact, of the
12 still missing, only one had survived, and the rest were dead.

Tragic news.

Twelve miners lost their lives doing a job that they knew to be dangerous. They
went down there every day knowing that something could happen, because mining
has always been dangerous. The only way to make it *not* dangerous would be to
totally remove the human element of the equation.

But that's not possible as of this moment. The technology isn't there and proven
to allow machines to do all the mining without endangering people.

I don't blame the families for being angry about the miscommunication that
resulted in their believing that 12 of the miners had been found alive, only to
be told three hours later that in fact 11 of them were dead and only one had
been brought out of the mine still alive.

But at the same time, I can understand the corporate reps position as well. They
were so hoping for a miracle, that they thought an early communication from the
mine had given them that miracle. Cell phones were used to contact family at the
church, spreading the 'news' like wildfire.

Now, as anyone who's ever dealt with a wildfire knows that once it's started,
putting it out is damned difficult if not impossible. Once those in the control
center realized that the people waiting in the church thought the miners were
alive, they tried to get word out that those people needed to remember that the
reports were preliminary. That they didn't know all the facts at that time.

Time went by, and they were told that the rescuers were bringing a survivor to
the surface, and the people in the command center thought that it was only the
first survivor. Once they discovered that a 27 y/o miner was the *only*
survivor, they began to search for a way to get the word out to the people that
contrary to previous reports, there was only the one survivor instead of 12.

No one wanted to be the bearer of bad news. I know that, in their place, I
wouldn't have wanted to do it.

What gets me is that the media, in their search for a 'scoop', in their quest to
be the first one to report, never questioned the early reports. As a result,
newspapers, both online and print and broadcast media reported the news as fact,
extrapolating with theories of how the miners might have miraculously survived
the blast. They *should* have contacted the media center at the mine - or waited
for *official* confirmation before running with the story. Those on the scene
should have found out exactly *who* had given the families the news instead of
simply taking their word for it. A good reporter would have done so.

Now, they look like fools, when they should have been the ones with cooler,
calmer heads.

My heart and thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who were lost -
and with the family of the young man who lies in the hospital.

There will be time to try and figure out what happened (if we ever find out),
and to affix any blame (if there is any to affix). Right now is the time to
grieve.

Let that happen, please.