For once, the local media’s obsession with sports is great journalism

Okay, so if you watched the news like me last night, you heard that 12 of the 13 miners in the West Virginia mining disaster were found alive. And I felt bad that somebody died, but 12 rescued is better than none rescued.

And, of course, I woke up this morning to learn that it was all a lie; that 12 of 13 miners were dead and the other one is in critical condition. And since this news broke well after deadline for most newspapers, say, east of the Mississippi, they all had huge banner headlines saying that 12 of 13 miners were rescued. It was not really any of their faults (as far as I know); what was released to the public was that 12 miners were alive.

The Inquirer printed it on the front page, too, but it wasn’t quite as bad:

Still wrong, but Penn State makes it not quite as big of a mistake as all the other East Coast papers. (Note: I don’t know if the Inky’s latest editions fixed this; I haven’t gotten a copy of the paper yet. I’ll update it if necessary.)

Mining Disaster Coverage [Newsdesigner.com]