Closing his story with a warning from an unnamed former miner that
new safety laws are often written in blood, NBCs Martin Savidge
presented viewers of the January 4 Nightly News broadcast with a
one-sided call for more federal regulation of coal mining.
Savidge didnt include any company officials or federal
regulators, and he failed to point out that federal mine inspectors
finished their final 2005 inspection of the Sago Mine a little more
than a week before the accident took place.
Anchor Brian Williams introduced Savidges piece by
suggesting that the Sago Mine accident in West Virginia was already
putting a harsh spotlight on mine safety in this country.
Savidge began by noting that mining deaths in 2005 were
less than half the number recorded 10 years earlier 22 in 2005
compared to 47 in 1995 but still used it as a springboard to
present a one-sided call for more regulation.
Critics contend the federal Department of [Labors]
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is now less a policeman
and more a partner with the mining companies, Savidge warned,
introducing a sound bite from Ellen Smith, publisher of
Mine Safety and
Health News.
Savidges policeman analogy conjured a subtle image of
mining companies as crooks, not as legitimate businessmen supplying
the fuel for power plants that produce about half of the
nations electricity.
Yet Smith herself agreed in principle with the notion
of regulators working in partnership with companies, adding that
concern for safety has got to start at the top of mining company
leadership for such a partnership to work.
A few hours later on CNN, anchor Paula Zahn went
straight to the top for answers, questioning International Coal
Group (ICG) chairman Wilbur Ross about the West Virginia tragedy.
Ross, interviewed live in-studio on the January 4 edition of Paula
Zahn Now, told the CNN anchor that federal regulators finished
their final 2005 inspection on December 22, a little more than a
week before the accident. Ross reminded Zahn that federal
authorities have the power to close the mine if they believe its
unsafe.
Rather than featuring Ross or another ICG official or
reading a company statement, however, Savidge offered a mere
half-sentence summarizing ICGs defense. Even that he quickly
dismissed by featuring a clip of a victims son claiming the company
was indifferent to worker safety.
Savidge closed his one-sided dispatch with the thought
that the tragedy may bring tougher regulation. As one former miner
put it, new safety laws are often written in blood.
NBC Savidges the Mining Industry
January 5th, 2006 2:00 PM
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