By now you've probably heard the sad story that the WV miners,
originally thought to be ok, were in fact not. It appears this was a
communications misinterpretation. One report, 1010 newsradio said
cell phone conversations and relayed to the public before they were
confirmed and properly interpreted.
In reading this morning's newspaper closely, I note the headline "12
are alive" was quoted from family member statements, not officials.
Further, the official comments were pessimistic. I also note that the
premise that the men were alive was based simply that they couldn't
find them, not that they had any contact with them which is really
what would be needed. Not having a body proves nothing.
I mention this because of today's passion for "instant" news. In
another thread, a poster was glad to be bypassing established
companies in getting music out; others are glad to bypass established
news organizations.
But instant news is not news. It is raw data. Raw data in itself is
meaningless, indeed dangerous. News is the _intepretation_ and
_compilation_ of raw data. Let's look at a classic example.
When FDR ran for election, a telephone poll predicted he'd lose. He
won by a landslide. Why was the poll so wrong? Because it was a
telephone poll and at that time those who had telephones were not
representative Americans; they were more affluent and more likely to
vote for Hoover.
We all know the famous Truman victory where everyone just "knew" Dewey
would win. They "knew" wrong.
When breaking news happens, there is tremendous misinformation.
Individual witnesses can be notoriously unreliable and possibly
biased. (People who didn't see anything will claim that they did just
to be on TV and get some attention.) In our discussion about the
stranded Amtrak train, my newspaper reported that the train was indeed
resupplied with food and sudry, yet others asserted there were no
supplies at all. So, who was right? (I believe the train was indeed
resupplied).
A good news organization takes the reports from various sources and
assembles it together. Contradictory information is re-checked.
Historical and situational background is checked and matched against
the story and contradictions again resolved -- this step is critical
toward defining and reporting a story accurately. Individuals at home
receiving snippets from the Internet are not getting the full story at
all, yet they think they are. Yes, I know news organizations are not
perfect, but it is better than no checking at all.
[public replies please]
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That report from West Virginia was one
of the saddest things I have ever read. WV, one of the poorest states
in the union earns much of its living in the coal mines, a dirty job
and dangerous by anyone's standards. Wasn't there a popular song
several years ago which went (something like this} "Work (some amount)
of hours, and what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt;
Saint Peter don't you call me cause I can't go; I owe my soul to the
company store.". A lot of WV people are grieving today since this
incident. The really cruel part of the whole thing was how the folks
were at first told that 'their men were all okay', only to find out
the sad, bitter truth later on. The hassle though is not in getting
the news too fast or too slow, but getting it _accurately_ whenever
it arrives.
That famous headline "Dewey Wins" in the Chicago Tribune was a good
example of rushing things through but getting it wrong. According to
Tribune historical accounts of that incident, the newspaper was on
strike at the time; some division of the multitude of unions which
_used to be involved_ in putting together newspapers (linotype oper-
atorss perhaps?) had been on a work stoppage for several days.
Management was attempting to do that job function and the reporters
had put together _two different_ front pages; one for "Truman Wins"
and one for "Dewey Wins" so they could be ready to slide the proper
front page into place at the last minute and start the press run. They
were under a lot of pressure at the Tribune at that time, due to the
strike and the lateness of the election results and the paper's own
publishing deadline. When it seemed 'almost certain' that Dewey was
going to win, they went to press _but with the wrong front page_. I
have seen a photo many times of President Truman holding up a copy
of the Tribune front page -- in that early edition -- it was hastily
corrected by the time the next edition came out about two hours
later -- saying "Dewey Wins". The early edition was supposed to say
"(whoever)wins, election results to follow in next edition". Although
the story was quite simple and short, just the headline and a few very
sketchy details, it has been a source of embarassment for them ever
since. PAT]
Path: telecom-digest.org!ptownson
Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2006 07:30:51 -0600
From: Cellular-News <dailydigest@cellular-news-mail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Cellular-News for Wednesday 4th January 2006
Message-ID: <telecom25.5.6@telecom-digest.org>
Organization: TELECOM Digest
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 25, Issue 5, Message 6 of 13
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Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com
[[ Handsets ]]
Samsung Offering HSDPA Handsets to Vodafone
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15436.php
Samsung Electronics has announced today introduction of High-Speed
Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) phones for the first time in Europe
through cooperation with Vodafone, and Qualcomm. Samsung is currently
developing the first commercially available HS...
10GB Hard Drives for Mobile Phones
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15438.php
The computer hard drive manufacturer, Cornice has launched a couple of
small hard drives that can be fitted into mobile phones, offering 8
and 10 gigabytes of storage space. By narrowing the casing around the
disk and by shrinking the "z" height, Cor...
[[ Legal ]]
Serbia Ministry: Mobtel Subject Of Fraud Probe
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15430.php
Serbian authorities have found evidence mobile telephone operator
Mobtel committed fraud and failed to pay the state hundreds of
millions of euros in dividends it should have received, the interior
minister said Tuesday. ...
[[ Mobile Content ]]
Chinese WAP Usage Declines - report
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15431.php
China's overall mobile VAS market maintained a good growth momentum in
Q3 2005 to reach US$600 million, nevertheless, WAP service declined
substantially due to the recent consolidation move taken by China
telecom operators, according to a report from...
[[ Network Operators ]]
Hungarian Operators Set Up Non-Payment Blacklist
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15432.php
Hungary's three mobile network operators, Pannon, T-Mobile and
Vodafone are reported to have set up a shared blacklist of customers
that they have had to disconnect due to non-payment of their phone
bills. The blacklist came into effect from January ...
Reliance Launches Nationwide Tariff
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15433.php
India's Reliance Infocomm has announced dramatic plans breaking the
circle barrier and thus became the first operator in the country to
launch 'One-Nation, One Tariff.' Calls from Reliance IndiaMobile
prepaid anywhere-to-anywhere across India will co...
Palestinian Infrastructure Released
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15434.php
Israel's Ministry of Communications has agreed to release telecoms
equipment that had been purchased by the Palestinian GSM network
operator, Jawwal. The equipement had been impounded by the Israeli
authorities citing security concerns. The military ...
[[ Personnel ]]
New Directors for Linktone?
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15437.php
The Chinese mobile content provider, Linktone has announced the
appointments of Richard Xu and Liaoyuan Du to the newly created
positions of Senior Vice President, Operation and Senior Vice
President, Sales, respectively, in order to further strength...
[[ Reports ]]
Data Services Grow While Smartphone Prices Fall
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15435.php
Mobile telephone users in the developed world are adopting wireless
data services in large and growing numbers, leading to a rise in sales
of smartphones that support these advanced functions. According to ABI
Research analyst Shailendra Pandey, "Som...
[[ Statistics ]]
China 06 Phone Users To Exceed 820 Million Vs 746 Million In 05
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15429.php
The number of fixed-line phone users in China is expected to rise by
30 million this year, while mobile-phone users are likely to rise by
48 million, boosting the country's total phone users to more than 820
million, the official Xinhua News Agency r...
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