Media Gaffe Exposes Competing Interests

Some in the media realize (perhaps too late) that their erroneous reporting may have disasterous consequences - false reports about a rescue op to save the South Koreans may have put their lives in jeopardy.

The Reuters news service issued a three-paragraph report at 7:42 a.m. EDT Wednesday that an operation aimed at rescuing the hostages was under way. A full-length story moved at 7:51 a.m. Both stories quoted Khowja Seddiqi, a district chief in the area, as the source.

At 9:31 a.m., Reuters sent notice that the story had been withdrawn, saying that "the official quoted in the story did not make the comment reported."

"The error occurred because of a miscommunication between correspondents," Reuters spokesman Ty Trippet said. "When it became clear that this was not the case, we immediately issued a worldwide advisory withdrawing the original story and making clear that it was wrong."

The Associated Press could get no confirmation of the original Reuters report, spokesman Paul Colford said. The news agency ran a story later in the morning saying that the Afghan military denied media reports claiming that a rescue attempt had been launched.

One potential source of confusion was that the Afghan military had dropped leaflets in the area warning residents of an upcoming military mission. The military said action was weeks away and unconnected to the hostage crisis.

The confusion over the leaflets had nothing to do with Reuters' original report, Trippet said.

CNN's Kiran Chetry, at 8:29 a.m., said that Reuters had reported that a rescue operation had started. Fox News Channel's Steve Doocy said there were "some wire reports today that the army over there is dropping leaflets on towns saying, you know, you better get out because we are about to launch an operation to try to liberate these people."

ABC News ran the Reuters report on its Web site, although spokesman Cathie Levine said the network had—incorrectly, it turned out—confirmed the report. It was couched on "Good Morning America," where it was reported that a rescue operation "may be getting under way."

A report on BBC News was led: "Fighting has erupted in the area where a group of South Korean hostages are being held by the Taliban, suggesting an operation has begun to free them."

Both South Korea and the United States have ruled out military operations to rescue the hostages, South Korea's foreign minister said after meeting with a U.S. diplomat on Thursday.

The idea of reporting on such a mission before the results are known can pit competing interests against each other: the compelling need of news organizations to report the news as it knows it versus the knowledge that the news may put some people in danger.

Reuters has declined to comment other than to say that its original story was sources to an Afghan official. Can we get a name to go along with that? Who exactly offered up that statement? There's no reason to keep him secret as he burned the wire service and put lives in jeopardy by claiming that a rescue operation was underway.

Here's a guide - if you think that the information may put lives in danger, hold off on reporting it for the time being. If you think you're close to the line, you've probably gone too far.

At the moment, there are reports that the Taliban is holding direct talks with the South Korean government over the ongoing hostage crisis. 21 South Koreans remain in Taliban hands, after the Taliban executed two members of a South Korean missionary group.