LOS ANGELES — In the wake of the helicopter crash that took the lives of former National Basketball Association star Kobe Bryant and eight others on Sunday, media outlet TMZ was criticized for publishing the news online before the victims’ families could be notified. Although TMZ is based in Los Angeles, the move drew the ire of journalists in Boston as well.
“I understand that you’re fighting to break the news out and TMZ is TMZ and they do their thing,” said Ethan Fuller, 20, a sports correspondent at the Boston Globe from Portsmouth, N.H. “But you have to give respect to the families who didn’t even get the information before TMZ broke it, which is insensitive.”
News of the crash was first posted around 11:30 a.m. on January 26 even though it occurred just before 9:47 a.m., according to Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby. While Bryant’s death was the first to be reported by TMZ, reports surfaced soon afterwards that former Cape Cod Baseball League manager John Altobelli and Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna were also among those who died in the accident.
During a Sunday afternoon press conference, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva criticized TMZ’s actions.
“It would be extremely disrespectful to understand that your loved one has perished and you learn about it from TMZ,” Villanueva said. “That is just wholly inappropriate.”
Sports fans, media personnel, and other individuals across the country echoed Villanueva’s concern for the Bryant and Altobelli families and others close to the victims as a result of TMZ’s premature report. Some deemed TMZ’s reporting particularly disturbing considering that the fatalities were not confirmed until several hours later.
News media outlets must decide how quickly to release breaking information when it relates to sensitive matters such as death. The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics urges journalists to show compassion for those who may be affected by the distributed information, but what constitutes an appropriate timetable for circulating such reports is often loosely defined.
“It’s very tough because being first is not only how you’re gonna make money, but it’s also in your job description if you’re a reporter,” Fuller said. “Being first versus being right, it’s a tough line to balance because you’re hoping the police were able to get to the families quick enough and notify them or else you fall behind.”
Although Fuller is a reporter in Boston and not in Los Angeles, he identified the culture of all American journalism as an issue.
“I don’t think it’s a TMZ problem,” Fuller said. “TMZ is just better at getting there first. It’s more of an industry problem because if ESPN got something like that, they would break it just like TMZ would.”
In fact, TMZ was not the only media organization denounced for the handling of reporting on Bryant’s death. Other news groups also released information hours before any details were corroborated with Los Angeles County officials, and several of those reports were later determined to be false.
One such report named Rick Fox, Bryant’s Lakers teammate from 1997 to 2004, as one of the individuals on board the helicopter. The rumor trended on multiple social media platforms and alarmed Fox’s family and friends.
Chad Jones, 22, co-host of the WTBU Sports Radio talk show from Los Angeles, found the speculation over Fox’s alleged death concerning as well.
“I can’t imagine going through Twitter and finding out that a close friend or my father died in a helicopter crash,” Jones said. “It was pretty disgusting.”
ABC News was the perpetrator behind another erroneous rumor relating to the unconfirmed identities of the victims. Matt Gutman, a broadcaster for ABC News, reported that Bryant’s three other daughters were also killed.
Gutman later apologized for the inaccuracy on the ABC broadcast and on his personal social media accounts, but the damage was already done in the eyes of several sports media correspondents. Some called for Gutman and other reporters who put out incorrect information to be fired, while others suggested more moderate punishments.
“I’m not a huge proponent of firing people for one mistake,” Jones said. “It’s just such an important part of reporting to get your facts right about a person when they’re alive and especially when they’re dead. So maybe not firing, but definitely suspended and an apology would be necessary. If it were firing, I wouldn’t have a huge problem with it.”
Regardless of whether any journalists lose their jobs, Daily Free Press News Editor Angela Yang emphasized the need for proper fact-checking to avoid situations like this one in the future.
“Just because a news group or a broadcast network said something, that doesn’t mean you should publish the same thing without verifying it as if no one had published it yet,” Yang said. “It’s much more embarrassing for you as a publication or as an outlet to get something wrong even if everyone else got it wrong with you than to get it right and publish it a few hours later than everyone else.”
In addition to highlighting the importance of accuracy, Yang prioritized the well-being of individuals impacted by news stories.
“Newspapers have the urge to break news when it happens, especially when it is a public figure, but it’s hard because we do need to keep in mind that these public figures are still individuals and their families are individuals,” Yang said. “They’re humans and they deserve empathy just like everyone else.”