How the flawed story appeared in the Star Tribune

Article by: Star Tribune
Updated: January 5, 2006 - 7:17 AM

0
comments
resize text
print
buy reprints

Tweet
share

email
Email share

your name

your email

recipients email

+ add a comment add a comment

The Star Tribune, along with hundreds of other daily newspapers in the United States, published an inaccurate headline and story this morning reporting that the miners trapped in West Virginia were alive when in reality only one had survived.

As a newspaper that relies on wire services for coverage of most national news beyond the Upper Midwest, Star Tribune wire editors watched the stories moving from the various wires late Tuesday night and found all consistently reporting the same news from West Virginia: that the miners had been found alive.

In addition to quoting family members, the stories also quoted state officials, including West Virginia's governor and his spokesman, saying 12 miners were alive and were being "moved to the surface" and examined.

The reports from the various wire services did not raise reasons to hesitate in publishing that news. It wasn't until 1:57 a.m. Wednesday - when most copies of the Star Tribune already were printed - that the Associated Press moved an alert saying family members had been told by the mining company that there was only one survivor.