This month Interviewing takes a critical look at how the media and mine company management handled the Sago tragedy in West Virginia.

During the course of this tragedy, the corporation performed admirably, for the most part.  But, the terrible fact is that 12 men died and a very public, heart breaking mistake was made.  Who's at fault?

Inevitably, a crisis creates a vacuum.  Supply typically cannot, at least initially, keep up with the demand for information.  As a result, rumor, innuendo, speculation, and—especially in this case—faulty information fill the air, literally.

"I used to think that reporting unconfirmed hearsay was for the Al-Jazeeras and Drudges of the world. But the cable news lust for being first ...inspires a lot of shortcuts."
- MATTHEW T. FELLING, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs.

"When the governor himself seems to confirm the information, there are not many among us who wouldn't go with it...As in Hurricane Katrina coverage, the media has painfully discovered that official sources can be wrong. It's proof the press must not abandon traditional standards of accountability." - AL TOMPKINS of the Florida-based Poynter Institute, who reviewed about 400 newspaper front-page accounts of the story.