Bad reporting

I don't know how many people noticed, but when the Miami Causeway Cannibal made the news the reporting was horrible. The first article said that he was suspected of being high on bath salts. Subsequent reports stated that as he WAS high on bath salts. I'm not sure if we all caught that switch.

Truth be told:

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/06/27/medical-examiner-causeway-cannibal-not-high-on-bath-salts/


He WAS a zombie. Let's use this as an example of bad reporting and run-away-news stories. Question the garbage we are fed and be ready for the next wave of zombies.

-NIM

Yes, it was definitely one of those stories where one person's conjecture (some quote from law enforcement) took on a life of its own. Next thing you know, there are all sorts of stories on TV and in the press about bath salts and they all reference this incident, assuming that it was bath salts that was the cause.

Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever know why or what caused this really bizarre behavior.

I just read a write-up on google,bath salts were not in this guy's system,It was Marijuana!

Psychotic break, pure and simple. We'll never really know, but I've seen enough patients suddenly snap that I'm not horribly suprised. Horrified, yes.

No he was not a zombie, at least not in the Walking Dead sense.

"Once overcome, Eugene chewed flesh from Poppo’s face, but a later autopsy report found he did not actually eat it."

Perhaps he had just finished watching a zombie movie marathon before or during using the marijuana and THOUGHT he was. More likely what MDinana said, a psychic break.

As for the reporting, news has always been sensationalized, and reporters/news outlets always emphasize getting the scoop and speed of reporting rather than accuracy.

Absolutely!

Most "on line, it's happening NOW" kind of reporting will merrily sacrifice accuracy for speed - it's a very though race, and each news channel want to be first with fresh new details. Failing that, they'll rehash just about anything just to stay "current" and not loose any ground in the competition for viewers/readers. Gory, attention catching details are worth their weight in gold. Few will ever care that they will later turn out not to be true...

As a general rule I try to take all specific details with several grains of salt, particulary if reported by online media or television. Even more so if the event is actually happening "live" right now, or just recently. If the specific detail is particular attention catching I'll label it as "probably not true at all".

The more gory and/or absurd piece of information, the more I try to disbelive it. But it's hard - some mental images just click into your mind and stay there. Particular if that piece of information is both gory and really absurd... It isn't called infotainment for nothing.

For what it's worth, I've been involved in several incidents that were reported extensively by national and local media, generating scores of stories.

Nearly every single account contained at least one error and many contained more than one.

With the proliferation of "internet media", I assume the problem is even worse nowadays.

Wait. "...NEXT wave of zombies..."? When were the previous?