BCT Editorial – 3/14/06

This page was last updated on March 19, 2006.

Rumor central; Editorial; Beaver County Times; March 14, 2006. Though it appeared in the print edition, this editorial did not appear on the Times website.

I nearly “busted a gut” when I read this. It’s the latest attack on information sources that are pushing mainstream media outlets like the Times to the side.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“The power of the Internet as a communications medium was never more apparent than in a report that mulch made from house debris and fallen trees in New Orleans after Katrina contained highly aggressive Formosan termites. It zipped through the Internet at the speed of light.

“The only problem with the alert was that it was wrong. Louisiana and Texas have quarantined hurricane-ravaged areas, forbidding the transport of any cellulose material until it is fumigated, according to the Associated Press.”

[RWC] Why should we believe the AP? If you recall, it was only a couple of weeks ago the AP told us it had confidential videotapes showing President Bush had been told prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans that the levees could fail. As it turned out, this report was wrong on two points.

First, the teleconferences on the videotapes had been open to the press. Therefore, the tapes were not confidential. CBS confirmed they had the same videotapes from back in August. Also, in October, the White House had supplied complete transcripts of the teleconferences to the congressional committees investigating the Katrina response.

Second, the tapes showed President Bush had been warned only that the levees could be overtopped by water (something everyone already knew), not that the levees would fail.

Lest we forget, the AP reported “12 alive” instead of “12 dead” at the Sago mine disaster in January. The Times headline was, “12 alive – only 1 trapped miner doesn’t survive ordeal.”

“As a medium, the Internet is neutral. But what’s amazing is the number of people who automatically believe something just because it appears there. As a spokeswoman for Lowe’s told The AP, ‘The rumors are false and very misleading, but we can’t provide a rationalization to why people believe things that circulate electronically.’”

[RWC] Let’s remember that information we receive via radio and TV is also “circulated electronically.”

“Be careful when it comes to the Internet. While it contains a wealth of useful information, a lot of garbage is also mixed in. Basically, if someone forwards something to you, check it out before passing it along. If you do that, you’ll be surprised at how much of it often is baseless.”

[RWC] This is good advice for all information media, including newspapers. Remember Jayson Blair of the New York Times?

Despite its advice to us, does anyone want to bet the Times didn’t check the AP story “before passing it along?”