Important Stuff -- Or Not: The Scoop Mentality

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

The Scoop Mentality

Once again, I am embarrassed to be in my profession. I was watching the first repeat of O'Reilly last night when, just before midnight, Fox broke in with the news that 12 miners missing in a coal mine in West Virginia had been found alive. Well, the news was so good, I didn't even mind that they cut off 10 minutes of O'Reilly's show. But as the coverage continued, I got more and more doubtful. Geraldo is an embarrassment. The guy should be drummed out of journalism. Why does he insist on inserting himself into the middle of every news story? Why can't he just report the facts and step aside? He was reporting on his cell phone but I could tell that he was dancing in the street along with everyone else at the news that the miners had been found alive. Then Donna Feducia at the anchor desk started asking the right questions. "Where is this news coming from?" Geraldo's joyous response: "Woo Hoo! It's coming from everywhere!" (woo hoo added for emphasis). "Well, has anyone seen the miners?" "No." No? About an hour into this report, the source of the news still hadn't been confirmed and nobody had seen the miners. I went to bed at one am with doubts. I woke up again at three and turned on the TV. Only one miner had been found alive -- 11 dead. At the bottom of the screen was the Chyron message, "Family: We were lied to." Bad grammar aside, now we have a mess. Every journalist knows that breaking news is almost never accurate. Numbers are almost always wrong. Yet they go nuts when a story breaks and all rush to put it out first. I don't. I don't mind at all if I am "scooped" by the BBC, Reuters, AP, AFP, UPI, etc. I would rather sit on a story for an hour or two and be accurate than break it and be wrong. I thought that's what journalism was all about -- until I went to work in a major newsroom. Most of the time, my editors don't give me that choice. If there are only two sentences known about a breaking story, they want those two sentences on the air. It galls me whenever I have to issue a correction. I don't know why the scoop mentality exists. What difference does it make to anyone anywhere in the world other than the folks at that mine whether that story is broken at midnight or one am? Contrary to what liberals say, there is no right to know. It is better to be accurate than to be fast. The bodies and the lone survivor have been recovered, but this has now become a media story. I expect it to be around for awhile, as the media loves nothing more than to examine itself endlessly -- and then reject all the conclusions that they might have blown it. Update: It's 8 am and I haven't heard a peep from Geraldo since I went to bed.

6 comments:

DAKOTARANGER said...: Yeah, I kinda fell for the report. Unfortunately, it just wasn't Fox that was reporting that. Maybe it's time for a congressional hearing on how the news is reported.; 4:57 AM
Lone Ranger said...: Oh, everybody was reporting it. I find it unfortunate that Fox was one of them. I can only blame it on the B team. Sometimes things happen on the overnight shift that would never happen during the day. That's the excuse I'm sticking with. As for congressional hearings, that would be a violation of the First Amendment, and when is the last time a congressional hearing solved any problem?; 5:53 AM
DAKOTARANGER said...: Well, it would make me feel better (just to use liberal language). The MSM is always calling for a congressional hearing on things

Someone has to look in on the leaks that we keep having though. There is no reporter-ratfink confidentiality as recognized by the Constitution. The press can print or run whatever story but when it comes to national security and leaks that should never happen.

Long and short your right just frustrated with the MSM this morning; 6:09 AM
Unknown said...: I agree, Geraldo uses questionable journalistic methods.

Thanks for dropping by my blog.; 10:48 PM
Mark said...: LR, Thank you very much. I thought I was the only one who thinks the journalists that covered this story were irresponsible. ER actually said only the electronic media were irresponsible. Newspapers have editors that verify the stories. So now, I am holding in my hand, the local morning paper with headlines that scream "12 miners found alive!"

Guess he was wrong about that one.; 11:41 PM
Lone Ranger said...: Well Mark, I cut newspapers a LITTLE slack because they cover yesterday's news today. They have to meet a daily deadline, but they lost this bet. I haven't read a paper in five years.; 3:54 AM

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Talking Points

I don't use talking points, I create them.

1. Hate makes people stoopid.

2. There is nothing so impenetrable as a closed mind.

3. A stupid person is not someone who can't learn, but someone who refuses to learn.

4. It is a small mind that has no room for God.

5. You can take Stalin out of the gene pool, but you can't take Stalinism out of liberals.

6. The best way to sabotage a bad plan is to follow it to the letter.

7. The race card is the first refuge of people who have nothing to say.

8. Ignorance is the cornerstone of arrogance.

9. Which is more racist, to hate someone who is not white or to assume someone is racist because he is white?

10. Children are not stupid. If a child is taught, the child will learn. If a child is not learning, the child is not being taught.

11. To express righteous indignation, one must first be righteous. And that's a label that doesn't stick to liberals.

12. Profanity is ignorance made audible.

13. An open mind is a liberal's worst enemy.

14. Paternalism is the purest form of racism.

15. People who bend the truth, usually bend it in their favor.

16. If you always stand in opposition to liberalism, you will never be wrong.

18. Life is simple. People who make it complicated usually have an agenda.

19. Getting your news from the corrupt, liberal media is like sticking your head in the sand, except you don't get grit in your teeth.

20. Liberals' emotional development stops at the age of 16.

21. To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell the truth.

22. Idealism seldom matches up with reality.

23. Those who don't hate communism have never lived it.

24. This was a much more civil country when men walked about heavily armed.

25. This economy will never heal as long as Obama keeps picking at the scab.

26. Liberals don't think outside the box; they ARE the box.

27. You cannot change the hearts and minds of liberals, because they possess neither.

28. There is no such thing as a kind liberal.

29. Reading Democratic Party platforms is like reading the history of human rights abuses and crimes against humanity in this country.

25 Immutable Truths About Liberals

Over the years I've been writing this blog, I've been throwing out little self-evident truths that seem to have no exceptions that prove the rule. I've made a list of some of them and will add to it as I remember them or make up more. Most of this list I've come up with myself. A few I've borrowed from others.

1. Always expect the worst from a liberal and you will never be surprised.

2. Never try to reason with a liberal. They disregard any evidence that conflicts with their beliefs.

3. You can always tell what liberals are up to by what they accuse conservatives of doing.

4. Liberals don't debate, they argue.

5. The only standards liberals have are double standards.

6. Liberals feel, conservatives think.

7. Whenever you don't understand a liberal's motives, just look for the money.

8. Liberals cannot be embarrassed. They lack the gene to blush.

9. The Liberal Golden Rule is, "Do unto others but scream bloody murder if they do unto you."

10. Liberals don't have leaders, they have demi-gods.

11. There are no honest liberals. If they were honest -- especially to themselves -- they would be conservatives.

12. A liberal's business is nobody's business, but everyone's business is a liberal's business.

13. Liberals have an inflated sense of self-worth. They are like house flies that criticize the air-worthiness of a Stealth fighter. (Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, ad infinitum are morons.)

14. Liberals lack a sixth sense that conservatives have in abundance -- common sense.

15. Liberals never stop hating.

16. There are only two types of liberals -- the deceivers and the deceived. The difficulty is telling them apart.

17. Every time liberals get on their high horse, they get bucked off.

18. Liberal programs are so wonderful that they have to be forced on people.

19. Liberals always choke on their own medicine.

20. When given a moral choice, liberals always come down on the wrong side of the fence.

21. The only way liberals can build themselves up is by tearing others down.

22. Liberals not only refuse to learn from their mistakes, they refuse to admit them.

23. Liberals have only two political positions -- blind devotion and blind hatred.

24. Liberals are incapable of attacking the message, so they always attack the messenger.

25. Liberal diversity is only skin deep.