Quote:
Originally Posted by KSig RC
I really meant my point as more of a diatribe against news sources like CNN and FOX, which have ran wild with speculation rather than news reporting. FOX particularly ran with several "eye witness" interviews and speculation about the road construction, which should have been 'routine' (obviously), that seemed to blame the construction workers for making some catastrophic error . . . likely the problem was much more insidious than a simple worker error, though. It's just bizarre, to me.
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I have to admit that even after many years working in TV, I have to just shake my head in wonder when reporters and media outlets feel like they must assign blame within hours after an event happens.
When will we learn that investigations, especially ones as complex as this or a plane crash or whatever, take time? This kind of desire for instant analysis leads to some really bad reporting.
Linda Ellerby tells the story of a local reporter at a news conference only hours after an airplane crash pushing the medical examiner again and again for a "cause of death." Finally, in frustration, the doctor said, "Lady, the airplane stopped and the people didn't."
As KSig has pointed out, maintenance (It's really maintenance rather than "construction" isn't it?) is carried out daily on bridges all over the world without catastrophic results. If the maintenance really had anything to do with this collapse, it seems to me that it would more likely due to exascerbatie a serious problem that was already existing -- possibly for a long time -- than being the "reason" for the failure.
One thing I have noticed is that the "obvious" is very often
not the culprit when the results of the investigation are finally released. The NTSB and other agencies will take the time necessary to try to find a cause for this tragedy, and nothing we say or do will speed up the investigative process.
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