[sandbar]

What I think happened is they said "We've found them, we are checking vital signs now" and someone heard "We found them, we are checking their vital signs", assuming that meant they were ok and they were checking BP and such.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Went to bed early and missed the whole thing. As regards the miners - a tragedy. Regarding the state of journalism today - tragicomedy. FNC needs to develop a sense of news judgment that means a) it covers important stories (i.e., do not interrupt an interview with Henry Kissinger to cut to a live shot of a dog rescue from a cliff high above the Pacific Ocean) and b) it holds its breath long enough find out the inherent validity of the information it presents. The other networks, as well as the NYT - they're beyond hope.

[LizardQueen]

What I think happened is they said "We've found them, we are checking vital signs now" and someone heard "We found them, we are checking their vital signs", assuming that meant they were ok and they were checking BP and such.

I agree completely. And most lay people would just assume that "checking vital signs" means that the people actually had vitals signs to check, and must therefore be alive.

What disturbs me the most is the 3 hour delay before the rumors were quashed. It would have been immensely helpful if the Command Center were to put out a prompt one-line statement saying "Please stop running around. The report of 12 found alive is NOT yet confirmed and may not be entirely accurate".

LQ

[mware]

I think that is where the bad information started too. My guess is that someone said, we are checking FOR vital signs and someone thought they heard, we are checking THE vital signs

[Jaded]

Most likely. Or someone assumed that since one was alive, they were all alive.

One of the family members on TV from last night said she WILL SUE.