My photographer during the first few days of the Sago mine disaster, Todd Maisel, has written his own account of what happened for the National Press Photographers Association.
This was obviously not the work of gullible media, but of journalists pushed to their limits and everyone wanting the miners to be alive. It didn’t help that Governor Manchin was part of the jubilation at that midnight hour.
The Dispatch’s Snyder said he photographed a mine accident in Kentucky days later, and once again misinformation was given to the media.
“The irony is we again had a mine thing in Kentucky, almost the same thing happened there and it was grievous for the family,” Snyder said of the Pikeville, KY, mine roof collapse on Tuesday, January 10. “It came out that the miner was dead, and then it was rescinded in a press release saying he was ‘alive.’ The confusion occurred because the brother and sister of the dead miner didn’t want the parents to know before they spoke to them. But in that flip-flop for the family, it caused great confusion and more pain.”
Newspapers that were able to change their front pages, even at that late hour, deserve high praise for the effort, including my own newspaper, the New York Daily News. Unfortunately, some papers are not staffed with such late night editorial operations and could not make the change in time.
One can only report and photograph what happens. If there is any lesson, it has to be that sources need to be ascertained to evaluate the credibility of the information. As photographers though, we can only photograph what is there and hope that our reporters are asking the right questions of the right people.
Also here are two posts by Jonathan Barnes, a freelance reporter from Pittsburgh who was also at the scene. What he says about the media being recognizable is 100% true … there was no way we were really blending into this community.
Finally, here’s a USAToday story that offers the best explanation I’ve seen so far on what went on that morning, why it took rescuers 12 hours to enter the mine and how the dead/alive miscommunication occurred.
Thanks for the update on Todd’s piece. I’m glad you guys are taking a look at this tragedy outside of the print product. It’s also nice to read a photographer’s view of the events.
And thank you very much for linking my stories.
The USA Today story timeline was good reading. Thanks for posting the link.
I lost my father in that sago mine and I truly believe u done a great article but no one really knows just how the families felt with the miscommunication and all of the lies unless you were inside of the church like we were. I miss my father very much and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of him. My father’s name was James A.”Jim”Bennett.