Those of us paying close attention to the Katrina story thought a cautionary tale was offered when much of the early "reporting" about the events at the Superdome, including the quoting of officials who were repeating what turned out to be rumors, was revealed to be erroneous. Everybody sure learned a big fat lesson. That's evident in today's brouhaha over the Miracle That Wasn't in West Virginia. Editor and Publisher's Greg Mitchell enumerates the offenders TV Newser carries another cautionary note:
Former CNN producer Tom Farmer writes to TVNewser:
"Too many celebrity anchors assembled in West Virginia last night -- not enough reporters. When twelve-alive fever swept the live shot positions, who asked the basic reporter's question: 'How do you know?' Who demanded a second source? Who held back pending more official confirmation? By uncritically and breathlessly relaying shouted bulletins from sprinting family members, the cable celebs transubstantiated rumor into fact. Reporting means asking questions and making cautious judgments, not just repeating things you hear.
But, clearly, this is exactly what happened at the Dome--"eyewitnesses" who overheard stuff being rushed to air. And none of these cautionary tales chasten, or correct anybody, at least in television, for one reason: in TV terms, this story was a twofer. You got all the great joyous emotion, and then you got all the great grief-type emotion. You can bet more than one producer said today, "Sure, the first reporting was wrong, but it was all great TV."
