Lincoln Hall's death was greatly exaggerated

It's hard to criticise ABC Radio National on a Saturday, as I revel in the smorgasbord of excellent programming that always comes my way on this day of the week. The Music Show, the Philosophers' Zone, science, current affairs ... it's all so wonderful.

But it must be said that yesterday I and no doubt many other people unnecessarily were put into a flurry when The World Today (like many other media) reported that Lincoln Hall had died on Mt Everest. (My report here.)

Because I know Lincoln, I nearly rolled my car when I heard this story. I arrived at a meeting with tears in my eyes. I phoned a mate who also knows Lincoln and we had a long commiseration session on the mobile phone. (I'm not saying these things wouldn't have happened had I known Lincoln was alive but critically ill.)

I hate to be picky, but shouldn't this story have been double, triple checked? Note that Simon Balderstone, Lincoln's friend, referred to "the various pieces of information not always consistent flying off the mountain". Certainly Simon thought that Lincoln was dead, and so did a fellow climber of Lincoln's, but surely that isn't enough evidence for quality journalism. I'm a bit unhappy that I grieved for four hours over the death of someone whose demise was greatly exaggerated. Now I have something else to grieve about, namely Lincoln's severe illness, but that's another matter. All the media seem to have blown this story, basing it (or so it would seem) on a report on the Mount Everest website.

I appreciate that it's not as though The World Today could just ring Mt Everest and ask for all the facts. But because of that, the story should have been written with a question mark, not as fact.

Tagged: journalism, australia, abc, radio+national