‘Rescued Miners’ Secrecy Pact Erodes in Spotlight’

Much was made in the media when the 33 Chilean miners were first rescued about their secrecy pact to share all of the money generated from telling their story.  Yet reports abound about the way these miners are now betraying their celebrated pact.

Here, for example, is how the New York Times reported yesterday on this every-man-for-himself betrayal:

Verónica Quispe [the wife of miner Carlos Mamani] said they were charging for interviews … “We’re poor – look at the place we live. You live off our stories, so why can’t we make money from this opportunity to feed our children?”

And who can argue with that?!

Yet I feel constrained to observe that news organizations became so vested in every facet of this feel-good story that virtually all of them bought into this secrecy pact hook, line, and sinker. In fact, one would’ve been hard pressed to find a skeptical voice even among preternaturally contrarian columnists when the existence of the pact was first reported.

By contrast, here’s the skeptical, but all too human, note I sounded from the outset:

One wonders how long the camaraderie they enjoyed underground will last. Not least because reports are that they spent their final hours together squabbling over who would have the seemingly dubious honor of being the last to be rescued. And, contrary to most reports, the motive here was not heroic sacrifice, but a calculated desire to bask in the glory, and enjoy the rewards, that would come with being recognized as the man who spent the longest time buried alive.

But their camaraderie is bound to be tested when wives and family members begin exhorting each of them to grasp any media attention that might entail, or lead to, a financial windfall; e.g., from appearances on talks shows, book deals, and product endorsements. It might have been all for one and one for all when they were trapped, but I suspect it’s going to be every man for himself now that they’re free….

(Chilean miners rescued, The iPINIONS Journal, October 13, 2010)

But most news organizations are still so vested that they are reporting on this every-man-for-himself grasp for money as if it were a betrayal, not of the pact among the miners but of the feel-good story the media initially reported.

Frankly, I don’t blame the miners.  Actually, I urge them to get all the money they can get, as quickly as they can get it, and from any means available. Because the clock is about to run out on their fifteen minutes of fame….

God bless them all.

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