[Leica] still more on Leica "rumor" and NYT

[abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge)]

The NYT was going with the press reports that were streaming out of
the area at the time. Here in Arizona (at the conclusion of the
fantastic Orange Bowl) the surviving of the 12 miners was the top
story on the news. It was EVERYWHERE. But we shook our heads because
the details were only being reported via a wire service source and
there were absolutely no details - so we went to bed hopeful for the
families but unsure.

But what does it mean to "get it right"? Get it right completely? No
one would ever write anything. I think what you mean, and your
comments support this, is get it as right as you can from sources that
really know what's going on. But we all know, at least those of us who
have been caught up in fluid situations where information is
constricted and emotion is high, that a single piece of information
can spread and appear to come from multiple sources even when it comes
from only one.

I was never in the news business but it works that way in intelligence
gathering also. And your words apply just as well, maybe even more
aptly. Someone in D.C. ought to remember it. But, of course, he won't.

Adam

On 1/4/06, mcyclwritr@comcast.net <mcyclwritr@comcast.net> wrote:
> Not to klck the Gray Lady while she's down, but I heard that today's NYT 
> front page trumpeted 12 survivors from the West Virginia mine tragedy. Can 
> you say "scoop hungry?" "Unsubstantiated?" "Reckless?"
>
> Who was the reporter on the scene who phoned in the report? Who was the 
> front page editor who didn't ask, "Are the survivors out of the mine? Have 
> you seen them? Have you talked with any of them? Have you spoken directly 
> with rescuers or mine officials to confirm they're alive? Do you have 
> names? Do we have pix?"
>
> Basic reporting. Cool your jets and get it right. Better to be correct in 
> the late edition than early and wrong. Of course, the NYT wasn't alone in 
> its premature emotulation. Other eastern papers jumped onboard and got it 
> wrong, too. Basic reporting, boys and girls. Basic.
>
> -Chris Lawson