They were all clinging to hope and wanting a miracle. Someone overheard a cellphone conversation or walkie-talkie conversation and ran with it.
The only thing I fault the mining company for, with regards to the communications breakdown, is they knew the 12 were dead, but kept it a secret for three hours after they found out. They said they were "confirming" it but in the meantime, the "miracle" spread like wildfire. If they had spoken up when they knew, the papers and media would have gotten the story right in the first place.
What happens in the media is one person will report something, others will hold back, waiting for confirmation. But then another source will report it, and the snowball effect starts. I saw the AP transmissions yesterday for the stories when I was at the newspaper office, and you could see AP was taking a cautious approach. Their stories were all "13 miners found, conditions unconfirmed" and "Early reports indicate miners alive.
It's all so sad -- it would have been sad still if they had reported they were dead in the first place, but it's sadder to have that crushing blow after hearing they were safe.
And that poor guy who survived... can you imagine what kind of survivors grief he's going to have?
You have it great in being able to see the wire reports on this. AP seemed to be responsible, at least from what you saw. That is good. Of course CNN and MSNBC which is what I was flipping between after the Orange Bowl were all running with the assumption that all were alive. As I was watching it though, I was finding it curious that no one from the mining company or the agencies were making any statements.
Yes, I think the man that survived, if he makes a full recovery, is going to need a lot of counseling to deal with the tragedy.
The only thing I fault the mining company for, with regards to the communications breakdown, is they knew the 12 were dead, but kept it a secret for three hours after they found out. They said they were "confirming" it but in the meantime, the "miracle" spread like wildfire. If they had spoken up when they knew, the papers and media would have gotten the story right in the first place.
What happens in the media is one person will report something, others will hold back, waiting for confirmation. But then another source will report it, and the snowball effect starts. I saw the AP transmissions yesterday for the stories when I was at the newspaper office, and you could see AP was taking a cautious approach. Their stories were all "13 miners found, conditions unconfirmed" and "Early reports indicate miners alive.
It's all so sad -- it would have been sad still if they had reported they were dead in the first place, but it's sadder to have that crushing blow after hearing they were safe.
And that poor guy who survived... can you imagine what kind of survivors grief he's going to have?
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Yes, I think the man that survived, if he makes a full recovery, is going to need a lot of counseling to deal with the tragedy.
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