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'If it bleeds, it leads' is a policy to be shunned
10/01 -- Atlanta

In the days since September 11th, I've been at a loss as to what to say, and how to say it. Anything that I could come up with would sound either repetitive or woefully inadequate.

It has taken three weeks, and I am just now able to sleep the night without waking up in a cold sweat, with my pulse racing - the fear of my family in danger driving my reactions.

Many stories, good and bad, have come out of all parts of the country in response to the attacks and the atmosphere in America in the days and weeks following. Many stories have been debunked as newly hatched urban legends, although they were reported by many major news outlets as fact.

One such story is showing up in Miami, where many media outlets reported that two Metro-Dade firefighters refused to ride a fire truck adorned with an American flag. The reports called the men "Black Muslims" and said that the pair wouldn't ride the truck because "America is a racist nation," according to one published report.

Outrage ran deep across the land, as demands for the pair's firing resounded from border to border. No one stopped to double check the story, and attempts to find the pair were met with an indication that the pair were on a "previously scheduled vacation."

Well, new information is surfacing on this issue, and it appears that the stories are not what they seemed initially.

It seems that the pair were actually three black firefighters, and that the trio not only were not Muslims, but that they did not refuse to ride a rescue vehicle.

Terry Williams, James Moore and William D.C. Clark are the firefighters in question, and according to an early October report in the Miami Herald, their sentiments and actions were completely removed from reality.

The initial report was carried by Miami Fox affiliate WSVN on September 18th, and discussed heavily on Miami radio station Y-100 the following morning. The reports from WSVN were carried nationwide by Fox News and other outlets, and much like a lot of the news in the days after September 11th, the stories were not completely fact-checked by the reporters involved, apparently in their zeal to get the stories on the air "First, Fast and Accurate," or "Live, Local and Latebreaking."

According to the October Miami Herald report, "Moore (said) he removed the flag because it was obstructing the ladder controls. One of his routine Saturday tasks is to ``lube the boom'' -- extend the ladder and grease the gears. The flag was placed on another truck, and the shift continued without incident."

A philosophical conversation between the firefighting trio about the state of the nation was added to initial incident, and "reported" as the rebellious incident.

In their zeal to get us the latest news and information regarding the ever-changing events since September 11th, the media, both locally and nationally, has tossed many of their standards out of the window. Unfortunately, the first casualty in any conflict appears to be the truth. The national broadcast outlets have a responsibility to be even more diligent about fact-checking and ensuring that the information they disseminate is accurate and truthful.

The notion of rushing a story to air just to fill time or to fill a space in their "breaking news" ticker across the bottom of the screen is simply irresponsible and reprehensible. Edward R. Murrow must be spinning in his grave.

By the way -- you can write me at: mhking@bellsouth.net