The Blame Game

How terribly sad. As everyone knows by now, all but one of the West Virginia miners were found dead. Saddest is that the families were given false hope and left to celebrate for hours before they were informed that the miners were found dead. Understandably, they erupted with anger at the news. Last night I watched the news and was astounded to hear that the miners were found alive. I heard, with my own ears, reporter after reporter on all the stations informing and interviewing family members. I heard them make statements like, 'The miners are being taken to be medically checked out and we will interview them after they are cleared'. They interviewed family members. They made statements like, 'The miners understandably want to visit with their families before talking with the press.' This morning I heard the very same reporters on the very same stations reporting that the miners were found dead. And, these very same reporters on the very same stations were saying things like, 'We are investigating how these rumors got started.' 'We are looking into who misinformed us.' What???? They were the ones reporting it. They were the ones who were telling the families and spreading the news. This evening I saw a reporter talking to a girl who looked about 8 years old. Her mother had gone home and gotten her up out of bed to welcome their relative home after it was announced they were found alive. The reporter was merciless in her questioning of the little girl. 'How did you feel when you thought he was alive?'; 'What were you going to say to him when you saw him?'; 'What did you feel when you found out he wasn't alive?' The reporter was actually asking this little girl these things and the little girl was looking at her bewildered and dazed. The mother stood by her, bewildered and dazed. Neither seemed to be comprehending how the reporter was using them for 'a story'. They looked in shock and as though they were barely hearing the reporter. Shameless. The press seems to be scrambling wildly looking for someone to blame. I've heard it's the company's fault, the governor of West Virginia's fault, the fault of the people who found the bodies and didn't make their message clear, the fault of the people who received the message and relayed it improperly. I even heard that it was President Bush's fault - but that's a given - everything is his fault. Members of the press corp, maybe once, maybe just once, you should take the log out of your own eye before trying to get the splinter out of everyone else's eye. Other posts related to this story: The Median Sib Michelle Malkin The Anchoress My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy