Journalism...a new low

For a brief period last night/this morning, many believed that the West Virginia coal miners had been found alive, thanks to unsubstantiated reports from the likes of CNN's Anderson Cooper and MSNBC's Rita Cosby. Two hours passed before the initial joy was turned to horror as they learned the truth--that all but one miner was found dead.

Apparently, many in the MSM have not learned the lessons of Katrina about perpetrating wild, unconfirmed stories. The kicker is that both Cooper and Cosby have laid blame at the feet of the mining company, not for providing false information, but for not correcting the media's false reports. As if it's their job.

This will usher in a new era in journalism in which reporters are so keenly aware that their asses can be fact-checked that they don't bother to validate anything. They just blurt out every rumor and half-truth they hear and hope that someone else does their research for them. Hey, it worked during Rathergate.