Media Responsibility to Correct Mistakes -- Does it Exist?

Canada goose.  "To cull or not to cull?" It depends upon numbers. -- Numbers too often inflated and misreported by media.

 

Fox News did its homework this past week in properly researching and reporting some of the animal abuses and brutality of USDA "Wildlife Services."

This is the second of its two excellent reports:

Hundreds of family pets, protected species killed by little known federal agen

However, while Fox reporter, Christina Corbin was busy digging up facts, some of the folks over at CBS New York were apparently throwing facts at the wind.

On Wednesday night, the local CBS news (and reporter, Dick Brennan) reported that "The Canada goose population in Westchester has grown to 250,000."

Could A Decoy Be The Solution To The Westchester Goose Infestation? « CBS New

The "250,000" figure cited is the DEC estimated number of
Canada geese for the entire state of New York:

Officials Plan to Eliminate 170,000 Canada Geese in New York - NYTimes.com

This is no small error.  To cite a wildly inflated number of geese in a community (most likely larger than the human population in Westchester) is to grossly mislead the viewing audience or readership into believing there is an out of control goose "infestation" in the town.

Of course people are then going to clamor, "Something must be done about the geese!"

Personally, I attempted to both leave comment and also call into CBS New York to point out this glaring error and request correction.

But, it appears reporters and news agencies rarely correct their mistakes.  If the public is misled, so be it.

But, that kind of mistake can and will most likely be deadly, not just for geese in Mamaroneck, but geese all over Long Island and New York City.

Totally inexcusable and unacceptable.

New agencies bear responsibility for checking and reporting facts, as well as correcting any mistakes.

WCBS blows much of its credibility to allow a mistake like this to go uncorrected (even when pointed out to them) and one must now take with a grain of salt anything they supposedly "report."

Media is too often lazy and in bed with the very people they are supposedly in charge of overseeing and reporting on. It appears the days of the "Fourth Estate" being watchdogs for government, rather than mouthpieces for it are coming to a scary end.

Certainly, we cannot take as gospel truth that which often goes under the heading as "news."

We have do our own research, observation and thinking. -- PCA

                                                       

                                                      ************