Basketball legend Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash on sunday January, 26th, 2020. The crash led to the death of Bryant and eight others including Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gigi. The sports world stopped for a brief moment where it seemed everyone took a moment to honor the Lakers legend. Tributes poured in throughout the past week coming the likes of Houston Texans Defensive End J.J. Watt, Washington Capitals Forward Alexander Ovechkin, and Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James.
All over the sports world people grieved the passing of the basketball icon even former teammate Shaquille O’Neal reflected on the tragedy on Inside the NBA.
Now a week after the crash thing have developed more clearly as more official police reports are being brought to the public however on the day of the incident this was absouletly not the case. The story was first reported on by TMZ where they claimed that five lives were lost in the crash including Kobe Bryant. We now know this was false as nine people were on the plane and all nine died in the crash.
The inaccurate reporting led not only to added stress to the families involved, it brought new people into the story.
Rick Fox played with the Lakers from 1998-2004 and won three championships with Bryant. Some reports claimed that he was also on the helicopter that went down on Sunday which led to family members and fans reaching out to see if it was true, it was not.
Like previously mentioned TMZ was the first to report on the crash. However, the speed at which TMZ reported the story upset police who suggested it outpaced that of officers who were seeking to notify the family members of victims (Via/CNN.com).
The need to be first to report led to rushed and inaccurate reporting all-around on that day as nobody could decipher what was real and what was fake as the death toll was almost never the same. It also led to more stress on everyone involved and when its a person like Kobe Bryant that is essentially the entire world.
The levels of fake and inaccurate reporting has continued to lead to added trauma for the Bryant family as Kobe’s wife Vanessa was at the front of most of the inaccurate stories including one rumor being about her taking her own life. Her twitter has now been changed to private however her Instagram is still up as shes posted now twice since the incident.
As simple as you can put it, Bryant’s passing wasn’t handled well but the biggest incident with the coverage came from Washington Post Reporter Felicia Sonmez tweeted a 2016 Daily Beast article with the headline “Kobe Bryant’s Disturbing Rape Case: The DNA Evidence, the Accuser’s Story, and the Half-Confession.”
The tweet (obviously) has been deleted and Sonmez has been suspended according to NBC News. However it was not before people fired back.
Regardless of whether or not you liked Bryant or not everyone should be given a chance to grieve and find out and that is where this case went wrong. Journalist jumping the gun on the story led to inaccurate facts being led out, as well as basic ethic issues occurring such as not letting the family learn about the incident before posting the article.
Digital Journalism II 