Greg Michaels: I Don’t Care If You’re First, I Care If You’re Accurate

Before you read further, know that I am not a journalist nor do I claim to be and I'm also like everyone else, still saddened by what happened in Boston on Monday. I am however a little perturbed at how the story was covered by the national media both TV and in print.

The New York Post added parts to the story that weren't true. It was a biggie in my opinion too, the Post said that there were 12 dead people and a Saudi national was being detained in connection with the attack, and this story was posted on Monday afternoon. Stories that were later proven to be not true, and were retracted with less fanfare then they were posted.

The national TV networks then went with information about additional bombs that were later found to be either nothing or unrelated fires, etc.

Even yesterday, many news sites and TV news channels posted and alerted that officials had a suspect in custody related to the Marathon bombings, a story that was then later retracted.

Where we here at the radio station too are in the media and collect information and relay it, it is getting more and more confusing as to what the term "confirmed" means. In my updates on Monday, I did not use the information from the New York Post and didn't even say it was an intentional act until after the president made his statement at about 6:10 p.m. Monday evening.

This brings me to my next point. I don't care if you dislike or like President Obama, but in a crisis situation if he holds a press conference, you go to him. You don't sit idly by and continue relaying the same information and file footage your network provided you. A few local TV stations are guilty of that, not airing the president's speech live in the hours after the bombings, instead choosing to remain with their coverage of the bombings.

Maybe it's too early for a writing like this, but I just needed to get this off my chest. All of the resources and connections that the national networks and players have, I give the coverage by those big guys a D-. I don't care if you're first, I care if the information is accurate.