From the Editorial Staff... - The media’s responsibility to the public

The Editorial Staff
2/3/12

Last week the death of former Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno made national headlines. 

Paterno, who coached Penn State for 46 seasons before being fired in the wake of a sex abuse scandal last year, succumbed to lung cancer on Jan. 22.  For the second time in two days, CBS Sports reported Paterno’s death. 

CBS reporter Adam Jacobi erroneously announced Paterno’s death on Jan. 21, as the coach still fought for his life in a Pennsylvania hospital.  Jacobi received false word of Paterno’s death via a Twitter post by Onward State, a student-run news organization at Penn State.  Onward State Managing Editor Devon Edwards posted the tweet after receiving an email informing him of Paterno’s death.  The email turned out to be a hoax.  The news spread rapidly until Paterno’s sons took to Twitter to announce that their father was still alive.  Edwards has since resigned from his position at Onward State, and Jacobi was fired by CBS.

Unfortunately, the erroneous Paterno report is not an isolated incident.  Last year, NPR mistakenly reported the death of former Ariz. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords after Giffords suffered gunshot wounds in a now infamous shooting that claimed six lives.  Giffords survived the shooting and briefly returned to Congress before resigning last month to focus on recovery.  The mistaken reports involving Paterno and Giffords respectively are merely the most well-known incidents of mistaken reporting in recent years.  Similar errors of a small magnitude occur with great frequency.

These glaring journalistic errors are often the result of a burning desire to be the first to report a story.  This desire is nothing new. Reporters always have sought to “get the scoop” before their competitors.  Many of the most famous journalists in history made their names by being the first to break a big story.  Yet speed is only one of the most important aspects of journalism.  Accuracy is another.  Unfortunately, speed and accuracy tend to conflict, and all too often the latter is sacrificed for the sake of the former.  Fact-checking has taken a back seat to news-breaking. This is particularly true in the internet age.  Today it is possible to break a story with one or two sentences and the click of the button.  Combined with the plethora of media outlets competing for attention, this is a recipe for disaster.

The staff of the Hilltop Monitor believes that media outlets, whether they be major multinational conglomerates or small college newspapers, ought to re-emphasize conscientiously the importance of accuracy in reporting. 

Prompt reporting is certainly important, but that reporting is useless if it is not correct.  Every false story further erodes the public’s trust in journalism and rightfully so.  The Monitor staff is bound to make mistakes.  We are only human.  However, we believe in accuracy and will not sacrifice facts for the sake of speed.  It is better to mourn the dead 10 minutes late than to make funeral plans for the living.