News coverage of WV mine explosion

[trust me]

The media is gettin on my nerves. They've taken this story and made a 3 ring circus out of it. They have as much information as is available, and they sit and wring it for all its worth, and they repeat the same stuff over and over, and it just gets more ridiculous as it goes.

I guess I can forgive them for not knowing much about a deep mine. But why can't they just take the information as its given, and quit trying to infer and read into it?

What they need to do is shut up the talking heads and let an experienced miner speak for a few minutes and let him explain what all the terminology means. Then the media would have to sit and digest the info and maybe they'd stop asking stupid questions.

Pray for the miners and their families.

[AteUp]

I hate the media. Anybody remember when news was informative instead of being entertainment like it is today? I don't know how some of those reporters do it. I'm embarassed for them sometimes.

[Redfishman]

This is so true-With Katrina in New Orleans they carried it one step further and polarized many factions all for their "ratings" and own agenda. I do pray for the families of the miners.

[l_c_s]

I recently moved from Lexington to Randolph Co. WV. I am about 20 miles from Tallmansville. You wouldn't beleive the number of media types trying to dig up a news story. Hotels are booked.

Being the Son of a Coal Miner, it sickens me to see the circus type atmospher surronding this disaster.

Let's keep these men in our prayers.

[AteUp]

Unbelievable! 12 miners alive.

[snipehunter]

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - Family members learned early Wednesday that 11 of the 12 coal miners who were initially thought to have survived an explosion in a coal mine have died.

Families learned of the deaths from mine officials more than three hours after Gov. Joe Manchin said he had been told 12 of the miners survived the disaster. The sole survivor of the disaster was hospitalized, a doctor said.
International Coal Group Chief Executive Officer Ben Hatfield told the families that only one miner, Randal McCloy, had survived the explosion.
Hatfield told the families gathered at the Sago Baptist Church 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.
At that point, chaos broke out in the church and a fight started.
Hatfield said the erroneous information spread rapidly when people overheard cell phone calls between rescuers and the rescue command center. In reality, rescuers had confirmed finding 12 miners and were checking their vital signs, he said.
"The initial report from the rescue team to the command center indicated multiple survivors," Hatfield said during a news conference. "That information spread like wildfire, because it had come from the command center. It quickly got out of control."
Hatfield said the company waited to correct the information until it knew more about the rescue.:confused: :confused: :confused:

[Dev]

Thats a shame

[trust me]

Now the big story is how the miscommunication occurred. I've been part of both rescue crew and command center (not a mine event, though) and I can tell you straight up, that kind of stuff happens all the time.

You never have face-to-face communications, because you always are relying on static-filled radio transmissions or dropped cell phone calls. Of course, everybody and their brother has a scanner at home :mad: and they pick up pits and pieces of radio traffic, jjust enough to put together erroneous conclusions, and they start feeling like CNN and call everybody they know with false information.

From what I gathered on the TV news this morning, at no point did the ICG spokesman tell the families that everyone was alive. That may have been the false impression given by the overheard communications, but the ICG people did not disseminate it. Terrible, cruel, unfortunate? Certainly. But not intentional.

[Highbow]

So very sad for those families, the media is way out of hand but what can be done to control it?? The head foreman Ben Hatfield use to be with Massey Coal and his brother is the main man over Jim Booth's mines in Martin Co. , it really is a shame that such a disaster has taken place for those in the W Va area again. I worked four years for South East Coal and my dad had 36 years when he retired before they went under. I'm glad that I changed fields long ago.

[rick243]

I stayed up watching the media brawl until after midnite, when I heard that "12 alive" announcement, then went to bed happy for those families. Woke up this morning and heard they had been told wrong. It is hard to imagine the emotional roller coaster those people went thru, going several days without sleep and thinking the worst, then hearing the good news, then finding out their family members were dead after all. Very bad situation. I spent 18 years working in coal and am also glad I got out. :(

[rick243]

I stayed up watching the media brawl until after midnite, when I heard that "12 alive" announcement, then went to bed happy for those families. Woke up this morning and heard they had been told wrong. It is hard to imagine the emotional roller coaster those people went thru, going several days without sleep and thinking the worst, then hearing the good news, then finding out their family members were dead after all. Very bad situation. I spent 18 years working in coal and am also glad I got out.

[trust me]

You guys that have worked in the mines know how it is...when you are underground playing with heavy equipment, it is an inherently dangerous situation. You have rules and policies and training, but nothing goes right all the time. The numerous violations are not upsetting me much. Every workplace has violations. If they're bad enough, they shut you down. Otherwise, you fix them and go on.

Sometimes the violations occur because the management didn't address something, and sometimes it's because the workers get tired of Mickey Mouse crap that makes their jobs harder and longer and they take short cuts. After this media circus, there will be so many laws passed it'll be dang near impossible to mine coal.

And Fox News had the nerve to give the microphone to an ambulance-chaser lawyer, totally unconnected to the case! I bet he wasn't there just to console the family members. If he did put his arm around anyone, he was slipping a business card in there pocket while they weren't looking.:mad:

Let's get the guys out of the mine before we start sueing each other.

[rick243]

Yes there are always violations. It was said that the most severe violation they had resulted in a $250 fine. That could have been their bench grinder rest not properly adjusted, or some other piddly s$*t. This Company had owned this mine for only a short time and had been taking steps to improve safety, or so the talking heads were saying. Something obviously went wrong with either the ventilation system or the fireboss inspection of the mine when they went back in after the holiday. I hope the lone survivor recovers and can tell the story of what happened that day.:confused:

[etownhunter]

I think it is wrong that they told the familiaes that they all were alive but one. Could you imagine hearing that for a sigh of relief, then be told the opposite? Im sure they will think again before they ever contact the families of any tradegy! Prayers go out to the families of the Miners!

[leggyarcher]

The false information was a blow to everyone. I can't imagine being a member of any of the miner's families or a member of that community. My prayers are with everyone involved with the mining tragedy.

[skin_dog1]

My best friend is from Buchannon WV which is in Upshur county. I nearly called him in SC at 1 am to tell him they were all alive but the one. Man I'm glad I didn't! I hate to think about what those families have had to go through. I know I'd probably be in jail had I been at that mine site when the truth finally came out. The media has no respect for anyone. They claim they have a job to do, but it ain't the job, it's the dollar that comes with it! The biggest most shocking stories get the money, and these assholes do what they can to break the story, regardless of who they hurt. The first time they jammed a mic in my face I'd ask em to move it, next time somebody would get hit HARD! I'd make them the news! Or tote a butt whippin tryin! I hope these families soon find peace and I hope the media can see how foolish they look on TV! This entire circus adds to the list of things that keep me form watching the news on a regular basis!!!!!

[Art]

I don't blame the media for any of this, they were just there doing their job.. If they wern't there we wouldn't even know about this. It was not the actions of the media that produced this outcome. I hope that some good can come out of this and ALL people, media, corporations, govt agencies, ect, will learn how valuable good information is and how to never say ANYTHING until you know the total truth when lives and emotions hang in the balance ( Even though it appears to have been a mistake made by someone who clearly violated a company request to NOT leak info). We just can't take out our feelings on the media based on the outcome, because we wouldn't have if they would have lived. My thoughts are with all those affected.

[AteUp]

It was a case of gossip that got overblown. Someone overheard a cell phone conversation and misunderstood the facts. They then passed it along and it made the national news. The media should have waited for official word instead of from some "guy". Sad situation nonetheless.

[raktrakr]

It was a case of gossip that got overblown. Someone overheard a cell phone conversation and misunderstood the facts. They then passed it along and it made the national news. The media should have waited for official word instead of from some "guy". Sad situation nonetheless. In the media, thats what its all about. Being the first! I agree, they should have waited

[Duster]

My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones, part of my family has roots in coal mineing.

I can understand the miscommunicaton issue from deep inside the mine to the surface..The mask the rescue workers have to wear makes it hard to understand each and every word. We had to wear the same type when working around gas fired furnaces if there was a leak. It might have been they said ..We found one alive and was mistaken for we found everyone alive.