Mining tragedy raises questions about instant info.

THE WEST VIRGINIA mining tragedy of January 3 of this year should make us all step back and raise some questions about this age of instant information.

First, a brief refresher on the story is needed since it happened several months ago. Thirteen miners had been trapped 260 feet below the surface of the Sago Mine since an explosion early Monday, January 2. The mine is located about 100 miles northeast of Charleston, West Virginia. As rescue workers tried to get to the men, families waited at the Sago Baptist Church during an emotional two-day vigil.

Late Tuesday night, January 3, families began streaming out of the church, yelling "They're alive!" The church's bells began ringing and families embraced, as politicians proclaimed word of the apparent rescue a miracle.

That news turned out to be false. Instead, only one miner had survived and 12 were dead. The emotional reversal in information devastated families even more than the original news of the explosion and entrapment.

Chaos broke out in the church and a fight started. About a dozen state troopers and a SWAT team were positioned along the road near the church because police were concerned about violence. Witnesses said one man had to be wrestled to the ground when he lunged for mining officials.

So, who was to blame for the misinformation that sent these poor families on an emotional roller-coaster?

International Coal Group Chief Executive Officer Ben Hatfield blamed the wrong information on a "miscommunication." The news spread after people overheard cell phone calls, he said. In reality, rescuers had only confirmed finding 12 miners and were checking their vital signs. At least two family members in the church said they received cell phone calls from a mine foreman.

According to news wire reports, three hours later, Hatfield told the families that "there had been a lack of communication, that what we were told was wrong and that only one survived," said John Groves, whose brother Jerry Groves was one of the trapped miners.

West Virginian Governor Joe Manchin also announced that there were 12 survivors, but he later indicated he was uncertain about the news. As word of survivors buzzed through the church, he tried to find out what was going on, he told wire services.

"All of a sudden we heard the families in a euphoric state, and all the shouting and screaming and joyfulness, and I asked my detachments, I said, 'Do you know what's happening?' Because we were wired in and we didn't know," Manchin said.

Many media reports of the tragedy the next day pointed fingers at the mining officials and Manchin for the miscommunication, but the media didn't shoulder any of the blame.

Of course, any media report is only as good as its sources. If those sources are wrong, the reports will be wrong. So, the media can't be blamed for reporting what the officials were saying.

But, the media, and all of us, should learn something from the tragedy and raise some questions. Have we become so manic on reporting information quickly--in "real time" to use a popular term from the internet lingo--that we don't take time to verify that information?

Have the media helped set up a mindset, and a mode of operations, that encourages politicians and other people in leadership roles to feel compelled to hold press conferences, sometimes moments after an event?

Do all of us rely so heavily today on the internet, cell phones, and other instant messaging technology that we don't ask the critical questions of who, why, when, where, etc., when we get information?

Do we want our maps to be so instantaneous that we don't take enough time to check them with the territory?

Certainly, the West Virginia tragedy is not the first example of false information going public. "Dewey Wins" graced the front page of leading U.S. newspapers when in fact Harry Truman won the Presidency in the 1940s.

My wife and I were in Britain when President Reagan was shot, and the first media reports we received was that he was dead. There have been numerous other examples of information being hastily released, only to find out later that it was wrong.

But, our technology today allows us to transmit information faster than ever before. Nobody in the West Virginia tragedy wanted the final outcome or wanted to mislead the families of those who died. In fact, many actually risked their lives in attempts to rescue the miners.

Neither mining officials nor politicians meant to misinform. The media didn't intend to run false reports.

But it happened, in part because the underlying premises of how we transmit information have become "fast, faster, fastest." All of us involved in information gathering and transmission should learn from the experience and question those underlying premises.

What good is the information if it turns out wrong?