The Feeding Frenzy, The Insta-Pundits, The Rumors Of The Hour... Sickening.

By James R. Campbell, ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief

I have just completed my 52nd or 53rd interview (I've lost count) with major media over the MH370 tragedy.

I work with the general media on a regular basis and have done my best to offer proper, but guarded, info to those without the requisite aviation backgrounds. While I've had a LOT of requests, I've often passed them off to parties with greater, more specific, expertise and insight into the questions posed.

After watching a number of idiotic insta-pundits, I have to tell you that I'm beginning to feel proud of one of my most popular responses...

"I don't know..." or,

"...There is no credible information to support a conclusion on that concept right now..."

Time and time again, I have watched theories come and go... 'hot news' be breathlessly output only to find that the source is ridiculous and not credible... while the families of the hundreds aboard that flight endure it all in a type of hell I can barely imagine.

We, as an industry, need to be careful with this story... it is perfectly OK to say that you don't know something, when in fact, you don't. We should talk about the processes that such investigations undertake, the professionalism of the investigators that are involved in such critical tasks (at least where the NTSB, TSB, and AAIB, et al, are concerned) and the ever-pervasive underlying cause for this effort--to prevent such tragedies in the future... but we should not 'guess.'

The odds are not great that there is a happy ending in the future of this story... but I hope all those involved in dealing (or who may be asked to comment) with the general media will realize that the professionalism of the rest of aviation will be judged by a public that is, right now, watching a bunch of breathless wind-bags conjure up the latest rumor of the day/hour/news segment.

Talking to the general media is a perilous process, I do it only because I have business and contractual relationships with most of those I talk to... but I'm incredibly careful about what I say and unwilling to provide any info until I can establish its bona fides. We all need to be careful... it's a feeding frenzy... everyone wants to know something... anything... and aviation needs to show that its far, far, better than that.

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