A pilot in South Africa is happily flying a small aircraft. He has four passengers. It’s a nice sunny day. In between calling out his position to control towers, he is probably whistling away.
Then, he feels something slithering on his skin. A snake is in the cockpit. Actually, a cobra.
No, this was not Samuel Jackson’s 2006 Snakes on a Plane movie. It was true, breaking story in early April that got syndicated, fast. Sample the headlines:
- S. National Public Radio (NPR), April 5: “He felt the slither of a venomous snake in the cockpit – then turned the plane around”.
- The Associated Press, April 6: “Snakes on a plane! South African pilot finds cobra under seat”
- Fox News, April 6: “Snake on a plane! South African pilot finds unexpected stowaway under his seat, a Cape cobra”
- CNN travel, April 7: “Snake on a plane: Cobra in airplane cockpit prompts emergency landing”
- The New York Times:“Snake on a plane: Cobra in airplane cockpit prompts emergency landing”
- Daily Nation, April 8: “ African pilot lands plane with poisonous cobra on his back”
An all-round great story, really. But this story taught a hard lesson about accuracy, getting the details right.
What exactly happened? How did the pilot learn of his shock fifth passenger in the cockpit?
The AP said “he felt ‘something cold’ slide across his lower back”. See there, the AP even quoted the pilot on it.
Fox News ran with the AP’s version. The Daily Nation simply reprinted the AP’s entire story and credited the wire. The title said snake was on pilot’s back.
CNN qualified it, saying the pilot “felt a ‘cold sensation … underneath my shirt at my hip area.’”
The Times published a close quote that the pilot “felt this cold sensation that was underneath my shirt, underneath where the hip area is”.
Then came NPR. Broadcasting from Washington, D.C., the radio said the snake was under the seat. And that the pilot felt it on his skin.
NPR even ran an audio clip of the pilot narrating this version – hoping it was, indeed, the pilot!
Now, if the reptile was under the seat, then the pilot would likely feel it against his leg, isn’t it? Not his back, unless his back was near the floor.
So, who got the story right?
Small facts are hard to nail. Yet it’s precisely hard facts that make for credibility.
Ask lawyers litigating a matter in court. They poke holes into the evidence. They become petty, chasing after small detail. And when they bring out one small discrepancy, that’s enough to collapse a gorilla of a case.
Journalism demands accuracy, the mother of credibility. But nobody said facts are easy to nail.
