News was circulated by the Associated Press, among others sources, late on the night of Tuesday 3, January stating that the miners had been found alive. According to the Associated Press, this information had been received from family members and additionally the "governor appeared to confirm it, saying: 'They told us they have 12 alive.' "

Many newspapers relied on the information from the Associated Press, while still others who had reporters on site took the accounts of the miners' family members and the general atmosphere of jubilation to be correct and ran the story. Unfortunately, as we now see, they were wrong.

It is important to highlight here that many US papers stopped the presses in the early hours of Wednesday morning when the deaths of the 12 miners were confirmed and were thus able to ensure that at least a percentage of their papers distributed on Wednesday 4, January went out with the correct news. (for more information see this New York Times article)

Greg Mitchell of Editor and Publisher slammed the papers in question as follows: "In one of the most disturbing and disgraceful media performances of this type in recent years ... newspapers carried the tragically wrong news late Tuesdy and early Wednesday that 12 of 13 trapped in West Virginia had been found alive and safe. Hours later they had to reverse course, often blaming the mix-up on 'miscommunication' ." He added "It is unclear why the media carried the news without nailed-down sourcing. Some reports claim the early reports spread via cell phones and when loved ones, and the governor, started celebrating most in the media simply joined in."

Mitchell's article is characterisitic of the charges directed at the US papers, the focus being the question: Why was the information not more thoroughly investigated before it was published, and and why did reporters get caught up in the euphoric atmosphere and not look for a more solid source?

The Editor's Blog of the Raleigh North Carolina News and Observer said of the stories carried by some US papers: "A close reading of the articles themselves tells the tale of how journalists bungled the story: In most there are no sources at all for the information; in some, the sources are the rumours spread by frantic family members. Those sorts of sources are hardly a solid basis for headlines screaming, 'They're Alive!' "

Editor and Publiser relates the story of how a local Virginia paper, the Inter Mountain, avoided the "mining story goof." The paper's editor Linda Skidmore said "her staff never believed the miners had been found because no official word was ever given." Consequently the Inter Mountain, an afternoon daily, never ran the erroneous story. (for full article see here)

There have been mixed reactions to the fallout from the mine incident from newspaper editors across the US who published incorrect stories. Some have staunchly defended their actions, while others have professed themselves deeply sorry for having printed unverified material and have published apologies and or explanations on the web and in their print editions for Thursday 5, January.  

Here are a few examples of the apologies:

Mike Days, editor of the Philadelphia Daily News said: "The paper is responsible for everything in the paper and if there is an inaccuracy, in this case a huge one, you have to take responsibility ... We are in the business of reporting the truth, and we just can't ignore it."

Alan English, editor of the Shreveport Louisiana Times wrote: I wish I could call back all of the editions with the mistaken headline ... we are sorry for any excessive pain our print editions might add."

Conversely, The Washington Post's editor Leonard Downie Jr. said "The mistake was not ours."

Additionally, editor Martin Baron of The Boston Globe said:"It seemed we handled it just fine all along the way ... It's not like people were working with no information. There were officials commenting on this. As it turned out, wrong information was given out." (for more details see this Editor and Publisher article)

The New York Times ran a story today giving more details as to how the false information that the miners were found alive originally began to circulate. (for more details see this New York Times article) One important issue the article reveals is the large part that officials at the mining company played in the rumour spreading that took place.

As Steve Yelvington states, "Pretty much every conventional U.S. daily newspaper published east of the Rocky Mountains has egg on its face this morning. So do some in the west." (for interesting comments on the moral of this story take a look at his blog)

One cannot help but think that the motto "Get it first, but get it right" could have been more liberally applied by the US media in this instance.

Sources: Editor and Publisher and here, and here, Editor's Blog News and Observer, The New York Times and here, Yelvington.com