Friday, June 26, 2009

The News Cycle on Michael Jackson's Tragic Death

Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop" who transformed the music world with his 1983 hit Thriller album, died Thursday of a heart attack at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was just 50 years old.

I followed the news cycle as the reports, and later confirmations, made the rounds. I saw what was mostly a good show of proper journalism and sympathy for Jackson and his family.

Entertainment website TMZ.com, not normally known as a source of outstanding journalism, and the Los Angeles Times were the first outlets to break the story of Jackson being rushed to the hospital. The only outlook on his condition was a grim "he is not doing well" from Joe Jackson, the father of Michael and the Jackson 5.

Jackson's condition was regularly checked on for a few hours as millions of fans awaited word on his life. Hundreds of reporters gathered around the hospital, as is customary when someone of Jackson's magnitude may no longer be alive. The reports were moderated and kept factual, to the credit of the outlets involved. First it was reported only as a heart attack and a coma. I saw nobody spreading questionable rumors, which speaks well to our profession.

Then as the prognosis worsened, reports started filtering out that Jackson had been pronounced dead. Again, as protocol dictates, numerous sources started issuing unconfirmed reports, labeling them as such, of his death. Sources were cited and occasionally anonymously quoted. This was done to keep people aware of rumors, but not jumping to "confirmed" conclusions just yet.

Finally, after about 20-30 more minutes of rumors, the official confirmation was made public: Michael Jackson, the icon whose music and antics were known the world over, had suddenly died at age 50. It had probably been 40-45 minutes from the time Jackson was pronounced dead to the time of the official word from the media.

This situation reminded me of the reporting done on the John F. Kennedy assassination in 1963. Walter Cronkite first issued bulletins stating that Kennedy had been shot and seriously wounded. Then the rumors of his death slowly started to reach the newsroom. The people were reassured, despite repeated rumors, that Kennedy had not been confirmed dead. Then at 2:38 p.m., the official flash came across the wire, 38 minutes after death had been pronounced. This slow buildup is necessary to prevent people from jumping to conclusions, and to prevent false reporting which could be catastrophic. The Cronkite-Kennedy coverage is available on YouTube, captured from a kinescope.

Post-death, tributes to Jackson were sprinkled across the Internet and played on every major news program. Farrah Fawcett, who had died that morning, was remembered in many outlets as well, to their credit. CBS News, among others, dedicated full tributes to Fawcett between the Jackson reports. Their deaths and that of Ed McMahon made for the latest trio to die in close proximity to one another.

This incident was handled about as well as it could have been in the news world. In other words, it was done by the book. Make sure reports are confirmed, cite every possible source, then show some compassion in the aftermath. Good job all around.

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