Death at Sago

[Returning after a long layoff for the holidays--and starting slow, as usual.]

As I went to bed last night, there was still no word on the fate of 12 coal miners trapped in the Sago mine in West Virginia. So when I turned on the television this morning, I was stunned to see that not only were the miners dead, as many had feared, but that the media was in a frenzy about how the news was broken.

It appears that there was a "miscommunication" which resulted in family being informed that 12 miners were alive, after which there was very understandable rejoicing. When it became clear, three hours later, that the miners were dead after all, the families found their sorrow tainted, very understandably, with anger. I do not envy them this.

But, and I think this should be said, the real tragedy is not the "miscommunication," but the actual deaths of the miners. And yet none of the cable news outlets seemed to grasp this, rolling (over and over) video of the families' premature rejoicing. It took me several minutes to figure out what exactly had happened. This just seems wrong to me--that several tragic deaths and a valiant if futile rescue attempt should be overshadowed by what was very likely one slip of a tongue.

Tags: Sago Coal Miners Trapped Rescue