Rescue Attempt Continues In West Virginia, Sketchiness Of Don Blankenship, Baby Jenny Reunited With Parents, Michael Lewis Interview, & Mining Illness

Hi everyone. Anderson Cooper is coming at us from the studio tonight, which actually is the last place I would have expected. I guess with the unpredictability of the breaking news they just ultimately decided to have him sit tight. Hopefully he'll head to Haiti within this next week or two.

We begin with the latest out of West Virginia. The search is still on for the four miners that remain missing, but it's not looking all that great. Eleven of the 25 dead have been identified. As per usual, we've got the Magic Wall action going on--tonight it's being used to preview what's coming up in the broadcast. We see a shot of Tom Foreman at his own Magic Wall. A wall within a wall. I think they just blew my mind.

Gary Tuchman has our first piece of the night, which focuses on the family of Ricky Workman. They're holding out hope that he's one of the four missing and will be found alive. The majority of the rest of the piece consists of footage from 2007 when Gary went down into the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah--the site of another horrible disaster.

That accident ended with six miners never being recovered, and worse still, an additional collapse during the effort to save them resulted in the death of three rescuers as well. I remember Gary's coverage at the time. To this day I still sporadically get people searching this blog for news of what happened to those miners. To lose a family member in that way is horrible in of itself; I can't imagine what it must be like to have to leave them in the mine forever.

Next up, Joe Johns and Jeffrey Toobin join us to discuss Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship. He sounds like a real piece of work. Of note is that he donated $3 million to defeat a West Virginia State Supreme Court justice because there was a $50 million dollar case before the court that impacted his business. Joe actually just gives us these two facts and says they don't want to imply intent, which is kinda comical. So, yeah, must be nice to buy your own justice.

Tom Foreman is at his Magic Wall now, doing a little demonstrating, and showing us the mechanics of coal mining. (Inside joke shout out to my fellow longtime watchers: mantrip!) Then we're on to safety violation talk with Mark Radomsky, director of the Miners Training Program at Penn State University.

Transitioning now to an Elizabeth Cohen piece that follows up on Baby Jenny. You might remember that the infant was separated from her parents during the Haiti quake. She was found alone and injured, causing her rescuers to believe she was an orphan. Given the new name Patricia, she was transported to the United States for intensive care.

Meanwhile, back in Haiti, Nadine Devilme and Junior Alexis were frantically searching for their little girl. Eventually they discovered she had been taken to the United States, but without a passport or visa, they were unable to see their daughter. They didn't even have proof she was theirs, and subsequently spent the next two months trying to convince authorities.

A DNA test ultimately proved their claims and they were eventually allowed into the U.S. to be reunited with Jenny. They have been granted permission to remain here for one year while Jenny receives care. The couple themselves will be assisted by the International Rescue Committee. Good story. Yay for relatively happy endings.

Next up, Anderson interviews Michael Lewis, author of "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine." Basically it's about how Wall Street screwed us over...and how they're showing no signs of stopping. I loved Michael's point about how the right wing is always lamenting the so-called entitlement mentality of the lower classes (welfare, etc.), yet there's not a more entitled bunch out there than Wall Street execs.

I really liked this interview. Very Daily Show-esque--almost literally, given that Lewis appeared on there as well. I wish they'd do this more. Find interesting, maybe not necessarily conventional authors, and have a relaxed conversation. But don't chop it all up! This one was actually pretty good. Too often though they only give us a few minutes, making it feel hurried and ultimately pointless. I don't know why cable news is so terrified to let conversations go longer than sound-byte length.

Our final piece of the night is from Sanjay Gupta, who like Gary, is also in West Virginia. He spends time with Lorelei Scarbro to give us a sense of what it's like to come from a mining family. There is a whole cemetery filled with relatives of Lorelei who died of mining-related causes. One of the dead is her own husband, disabled by black lung disease in his early 50's. Chronic conditions, accidents, there's a lot to worry about when you send a loved one off to spend a day working in the mine.

The miners will talk to Sanjay about their concerns, but not on camera. They're afraid of Massey Energy. A particularly chilling quote from Lorelei: "This could happen again today. And we're disposable commodities here. And, you know, this is the only game in town." These mine companies know their workers will put up with safety concerns because there's no where else for them to go. Not even 24 hours after the worst mining disaster since 1984, some of them were back in the mine working. Seems wrong, doesn't it?

The show wasn't bad. I hope they really go indepth on Massey Energy in the future. Or at least have on someone really knowledgeable about the specific situation, like maybe a local reporter. It seemed like Radomsky's expertise was more general, though it was hard to tell. The company needs to be held accountable. That'll do it.

A Tale Of Two Disasters: West Virginia Mine Explosion And Haiti

Hi everyone. No review tonight. As per my usual policy with breaking news, I'm skipping the recap because the initial information of a story is too fluid and often even inaccurate. Very sad case in point: when Anderson Cooper signed off from the show, there were seven confirmed fatalities due to the explosion at Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia. As of this blogging, that number has unfortunately risen to 25, making this the worst U.S. mine disaster since 1984. At least four others are still missing, but the search is currently suspended due to underground conditions. So sad.

Like many others, as soon as I heard of this current tragedy, my mind immediately went to Sago. I'll probably never forget that night in January 2006. Though not the same caliber of tragedy as Hurricane Katrina or 9-11, it resides alongside them in my memories of unbelievable live television moments due to the way it played out. The explosion happened on January 2, 2006, and Anderson was there anchoring live that night. He remained at that live shot for a good part of the next day as well. Then came that night's show.

Back in those days, 360 was always live for two hours, so I was used to watching until midnight (EST). That night they went past that time because there was a feeling that something might happen. I actually hadn't planned on staying up. Then suddenly they were cutting back from commercial early and there was an out-of-breath man at Anderson's live shot. Choking up, the man told us that they had just learned the miners were all alive and okay.

It was an amazing moment, not only for the great news, but because that news was being broken in real time to everyone--even our anchor himself. This would not be the last time that night this would happen. At that point I wanted to stay up and watch. I don't have to tell most of you that 2005 was a truly sucktastic year. So sucktastic, in fact, that Rolling Stone deemed it "the worst year ever." That night in 2006 I stayed up because I wanted to see something good for a change. Sure, I knew the family reunions would be run the next day. But they would be taped and packaged and produced. I wanted to see the raw joy. So I waited. And waited.

Hours ticked by, but it really didn't feel that long. People were just so excited. Anderson, who hours before was showing the signs of clear exhaustion, was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. Everyone was grinning from ear to ear waiting to see these men walk out. Eventually there was an ambulance and we were told that one of the men was unconscious (he would turn out to be the only survivor). At the time, I had a fleeting thought--a worry--that a disappointment was on the horizon. Looking back, I think everyone involved just wanted it to be true so badly that no one stopped to put all the information together.

We all know how Sago ended. In the wee hours of the morning, a resident of Sago named Lynette Roby, ran up to Anderson's live shot with her children, Kiki and Travis, and told the world that all remaining 12 men had died. To call it a sucker punch would be an understatement. I remember one writer would later say our anchor looked like he had been smacked over the head with a two-by-four. That's pretty much what if felt like watching. The community was devastated, obviously. The raw moment of joy I had been waiting for turned into a raw moment of absolute sorrow mixed with white hot anger.

Later, we would learn of miscommunications. Many papers the next day even had headlines proclaiming the miners alive. Anderson got a lot of unfair flack for what happened. As someone who has been pretty critical of him in the past, I can say he did nothing wrong. He used qualifiers for everything that was said at his live shot. His only crime was being harder working than a good many of his colleagues--the last man standing in the wee hours of the night. Sago was one of the few times I've ever sent the show feedback. I like to counteract when I know they're being slammed for something unfairly.

Unfortunately, once the drama of Sago was over, 360 spent as much time updating us on the eating habits of the survivor (seriously) than they did investigating the mine company's safety record. I hope they do better for this current disaster. Upper Big Branch mine is owned by Massey Energy Company and they're already looking pretty shady. Tonight 360 started to delve into their safety violations and I hope this continues.

The rest of tonight's show consisted of Tiger Woods coverage and a live interview with Sean Penn from Haiti. The former just made me laugh. It's like playing a game of "which of these things is not like the other." Oh, 360. As for Haiti, the major fear is still the rains and how ill prepared the country seems to be. Teams Gupta and Cooper were set to follow up in the country Tuesday. With this mining disaster things seem to have changed. At this time, I know that Sanjay's producer is already on the ground, but the good doctor has been diverted to West Virginia. I've heard Gary Tuchman is on his way to the mine too. Whether he'll end up there for sure, I couldn't tell you. As for Anderson, who the hell knows. He'll pop up somewhere. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families in West Virginia.