The Mining Disaster and the Media

If you have been watching the news in the last three days, you are most likely aware of the grave situation in Utah. I personally see little hope in them finding the trapped miners alive. However, they appear to be exhausting every effort to save them in the case they are. And that...is as it should be.

As I was reading today trying to catch up with the story, I ran across this quote from Bob Murray, the Chairman of the Murray Energy Corporation, that made me think.

It seems to me the media's more concerned about trying to place blame than they are about the families and the actual rescue effort underground.

I stopped reading there and thought about the little coverage I had looked at. Murray has a point. The media seems to be pitting seismologists against the mining company. Did a quake cause the collapse? I am not sure we will ever know. Something obviously registered @ 3.9. There is a dispute over whether it was actually an earthquake, or the collapse itself that caused the reading.

Lost in all of this is the fact that there are 6 miners trapped 1,500 feet underground, and have been for 3 days now. No one can even say whether they are alive or not. If there is blame for the mine collapsing to go around...trust me...it will find its rightful place in time.

But it seems these days that in almost every story that hits the wire, the first thing the media attempts to do is assign blame. Perhaps that is a natural part of our litigation happy society. Today, if something unfortunate happens to someone, someone else has to pay. Hire a lawyer, sue their pants off.

But is justice really served when a case is tried on 24/7 news channels and in the courtroom of public opinion?

Let's find the miners first. Then we can worry about how it happened. Then if there is negligence (which the media appears to be alleging), let the lawyers sort it out.

I hope there is a miracle. I hope to see six men rescued. The odds are certainly not good. But isn't that really what we should be focused on at this time?