Just over a week ago the world was shocked to learn of the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant. Kobe and eight others, including his daughter Gianna, were victims of a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
As the news started to spread early Sunday morning nobody knew what to believe. Rumors were swirling, and that can be blamed on multiple media outlets who decided it was more important to be first than to be accurate.
TMZ broke the story before Kobe’s family was told by local law enforcement. They also reported only three victims were on the helicopter, not nine. Another case of poor journalism came from ABC’s Matt Gutman, in which he reported that all four of Kobe’s daughters were on the helicopter with him. Gutman later apologized and was suspended by ABC.
Not all of the media coverage was bad. As the news came out people started to share their stories of Kobe and what he meant to them. One of the more impactful stories came from Elle Duncan from ESPN. She talked about how Kobe was more than a basketball player, he was a father and proud to be one.
The real story here should be the loss of nine lives in a tragic accident, and not the faults of TMZ and other lazy reporting. Being the first to the story is not always the best especially if you are getting key details wrong. So, let us all take a lesson out of Kobe’s playbook and strive to be the best at whatever it is we love and never settle.
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