Oregon Media Insiders

It had all the makings of a great story. Violence. Controversy. Man vs. Nature. There was even a Homeland Security angle.

Six sea lions shot as they sat in traps near Bonneville Dam. A cowardly act perpetrated by someone with a stake in the salmon-rich Columbia River. Coverage began in earnest immediately with the AP and several Oregon and Washington-based print and broadcast outlets covering the story. Coverage quickly spread to outlets up and down the west coast, into Canada, then on to other parts of the country and even to parts of Europe.

Some qualified that the sea lions had “apparently” been shot or were “assumed” to have been shot. Many stories had no qualifiers and stated unequivocally that the animals died from gunshot wounds.

The only problem? The story wasn’t true.

The backtracking has begun but the real story isn’t nearly as interesting as the untrue one, and something tells me the subsequent coverage won’t reach nearly as far.

There are lessons here for everyone including journalists, editors and spokespeople. Unfortunately it seems these are lessons that have to be learned over and over again. I suspect the fingers will point and the blame will be sprinkled around and not a thing will change as a result of this embarrassing episode. And it’s a damn shame.