Journalistic tailings
When Tribune reporters Judy Fahys, Jeremiah Stettler and Steve Oberbeck uncovered a long-buried story of how Kennecott Copper hid from the public for two decades the danger of its tailings ponds collapsing and drowning nearby residents in a muck of mining waste, they had a hot story.That, of course, meant other news media had to follow. But in a lame and shameful competitive tradition of newspapers, the Deseret News, followed by trying to prove the Trib scoop was not a story. It didn't go very well.
Paula Doughty, who manages tailings for Kennecott, acknowledged to the DNews that a major earthquake could potentially disrupt the impoundment. But to the DNews relief, she added, "We don't have any concerns with that neighborhood today."
Then the DNews quoted a state dam safety engineer who was willing to say he wasn't "aware" of any state records that suggested a possible cover-up by Kennecott.
Finally, a dozen paragraphs into the article:
But a 1997 document the Tribune found shows what appears to be evidence of Kennecott's efforts to hide the seismic risk from Magna residents. That document states that Kennecott's land development arm went so far as to purchase 39 homes in Meadow Green Estates and then rent them and eventually sell them, all allegedly without disclosing the risk to tenants or buyers as Kennecott worked to fix the problems at the tailings pond.
Doughty said the mining industry is much more transparent these days and that such a risk discovered today would be reported immediately. "I think things would be very different today," she said.Yeah, especially after the public has been made aware of Kennecott's decades-old cover up.
Note: The Tribune has it's own history of downplaying competitors' work when it gets "beat." But everyone in the business knows it's a hypocritical and counter-productive tactic for news organizations who like to claim they represent the public's interest.
4 Comments:
Yay, Glen. Thanks for calling out newspapers who fail to recognize the competition's scoops.
(Holly Mullen)
There's a difference here between recognizing a scoop and ignoring another newspaper's "first" story:
When the scooped newspaper has to use -- as the DNews did -- information from the first publication, then it's appropriate to give credit where credit is due.
But when a newspaper is doing its own story, has its own documents, interviews, etc., and does not need any of the info from the "first" story to fully report, then credit is not due.
To be first is nice, but it does not guarantee you a seat at the right hand of god.
Glen, I have to say that Holly kinda got you there. ;-)
But don't you know, anonymous, that all reporters sit at the right hand of God already?! (Holly Mullen)
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