The Importance of Getting the Facts Right

It seems obvious – when reporting a story the media should go to great lengths to get the facts right. For the most part, that is the case. But, too often the race to get the story on the air or on the web outweighs the importance of getting the story right. This irks me. And trust me, I feel the pressure.

As a reporter in the field, I’m constantly in a race with three other television stations, the paper, and news radio to get the story first. I need the best interviews and the best video. My story needs to stand out. Make no mistake, this is a competition.

Consider this breaking news scenario. There’s a police standoff with an armed suicidal man who’s pacing around outside his apartment complex. It goes without saying, this is a dangerous situation. This man is unstable, he has a gun, and there are a lot of innocent people living in the area who could get hurt. The SWAT team is called in. They have the area surrounded and they’re working to negotiate with this man. There’s a stalemate for hours. At hour five all the news media has left except for me and my photographer. I’m exhausted and frankly, I’m bored. That’s about to change.

I am shocked at what I see next. The subject make’s a sudden move, as if to run. Then, gunfire erupts. There are multiple shots and he appears to be hurt. I never looked away, but to be honest, I can’t say for sure what happened. Did he fire first? If so, did he shoot himself or fire at police? The first sound I heard was very loud and created a lot of smoke. I’m fairly certain that was a flash-bang often used by SWAT teams to distract a subject. I know the SWAT teams fired on him – I saw that for sure. So I think.

I call the station. We need to get this on the web. What can we report? They want the full story and I don’t have it – police have their hands full at this moment and aren’t talking. So, I’m vague. There was gunfire – the subject appears to be injured, and has been taken away in an ambulance. We’re the only station there and yet other news media start to report the story online with more in-depth information. I feel the pressure – but am not willing to cave.

I’m glad – because I eventually get the full story and feel good knowing that all morning long we’re the only station who consistently got it right. Yes, SWAT fired on the subject. It sounded like gunfire to me. You know… real bullets. We learn it was only bean bags and sponge guns that were used. Thank goodness, I didn’t say otherwise. There was only one bullet fired. The subject shot himself in the chest. Other details were misreported – he never had a hostage, was never barricaded inside a home. Yet, these are details that were reported by some again and again.

In a breaking news situation, often the public can be forgiving. They know the story is happening now, and the information may change. That’s not always the case.

On this day, neighbors and friends were angry and hostile. They were yelling at us, trying to frighten us with threats. Still, I wandered over to speak with them. They had a word for the media – liars. They listed all the misinformation on the television news. Of course, I can’t vouch for every station – but we often get lumped together. I tried my best to convince them that we work hard to get the information right. The best I can do is give viewers a chance to sound off. They know this man and they watched this unfold. Now, I say a little prayer that I get every detail correct – so when they watch my live report at noon, they know someone got it right. I want them to have a little more faith in the media. I want them to know that my colleagues are genuinely good people with good intentions – to get it right.

Old news hounds shrug off the negative attention. They tell me I should too. You can’t please all the people all the time. I find it hard to let it roll off my back.

So, what can I do? My job -- the more we focus on the facts and not just being first, I believe the more the public will trust us.

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