My local daily newspaper this morning had the story of “12 West
Virginia miners found alive,” just as did most morning newspapers in
the U.S. (To see this morning’s U.S. newspaper front pages, hurry over
to the Newseum’s front-pages feature.)
Of course, it didn’t turn out that way in the end; the real facts of 12
deaths emerged in the middle of the night, well after most press runs.
Now, hindsight is 20/20, as the cliche goes. But here’s what I think
newspaper front-page editors should have done last night: Published an
info box accompanying the story pointing people to the paper’s website
for updates on the story, and acknowledging that as of the time the
paper-edition story was printed, the situation was fluid.
Acknowledging the information situation would have generated
understanding by readers of why the print story got it wrong. By
ignoring it, some segment of the readership figured out what happened
on their own; others assumed incompetence by the newspaper’s editors.
Another thought that comes to mind is more of a crisis-management
solution: Since newspapers are now publishing to multiple media
formats, and because they (should have) collected e-mail addresses of
their print-edition customers, they could have sent out an “urgent
correction” updating the story. If the paper has a cell-phone news
service, they could use that, too.
Finally, those wrong front-page headlines staring out of newspaper
street racks all day are embarrassing. Perhaps printed posters should
have been inserted in the racks with an accurate headline and a call to
visit the newspaper’s website. At least that’s cheaper than printing a
new edition.
Post-game quarterbacking isn’t terribly productive, of course, but
perhaps these ideas will be useful the next time a big story turns 180
degrees in the middle of the night.
