In one of the most disturbing and disgraceful media performances of this type in recent years, television and newspapers carried the tragically wrong news late Tuesday and early Wednesday that 12 of 13 trapped coal miners in West Virginia had been found alive and safe. Hours later they had to reverse course, often blaming the mixup on "miscommunication."

For hours, starting just before midnight, newspaper reporters and anchors such as Rita Crosby interviewed euphoric loved ones and helped spread the news about the miracle rescue. Newspaper Web sites announced the happy news and many put it into print for Wednesday right at late deadlines.

The Washington Post story by Ann Scott Tyson, which appears on the front page, opened: "A dozen miners trapped 12,000 feet into a mountainside since early Monday were found alive Tuesday night just hours after rescuers found the body of a 13th man, who had died in an explosion in an adjacent coal mine that was sealed off in early December."

Later in the story, she even added this explanation: "The miners had apparently done what they had been taught to do: barricaded themselves in a pocket with breathable air and awaited rescue."

The New York Times story on the Web by James Dao was also headlined with no doubt raised: "12 Miners Found Alive 41 Hours After Explosion." The story, which also ran in print on the front page, began: "Forty-one hours after an explosion trapped 13 men in a West Virginia coal mine here, family members and a state official said 12 of the miners had been found alive Tuesday night.

"Joe Thornton, deputy secretary for the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, said the rescued miners were being examined at the mine shortly before midnight and would soon be taken to nearby hospitals. Mr. Thornton said he did not know details of their medical condition." It then reported family members calling it a miracle.

In its print edition, the Times story carried this qualified headline: "12 Miners Are Found Alive, Family Members Say."

An Associated Press dispatch first carried the news at 11:59 pm: "Twelve miners caught in an explosion in a coal mine were found alive Tuesday night, more than 41 hours after the blast, family members said. Bells at a church where relatives had been gathering rang out as family members ran out screaming in jubilation." But many newspapers, and all of cable TV news, reported the rescue as fact, not merely based on family claims.

A later AP account by Allen Breed grew more, not less, certain: "Twelve miners caught in an explosion in a coal mine were found alive Tuesday night, sending family members streaming from the church where they had gathered during the nearly two-day ordeal. Joyous shouts rose of "Praise the Lord!""

The Chicago Tribune, which had reported the rescue, later carried a new story on its site opening with, "Jubilation turned to anger early Wednesday when relatives of 12 coal miners believed alive in a West Virginia coal mine blast were told that 11 of their loved ones were dead. One survivor was in critical condition at an area hospital."

It took three hours for the coal company to correct the reports. It is unclear why the media carried the news without proper sourcing. Some reports claim the early reports spread via cell phones and when loved ones started celebrating most in the media simply joined in.

In reality, rescuers had only confirmed finding 12 miners and were checking their vital signs. But what leaked out to anxious family members was that 12 were found alive.

A company spokesman, sounding like another Michael Brown, explained, ""Let"s put this in perspective. Who do I tell not to celebrate? I didn"t know if there were 12 or 1 (who were alive).""

"About the confusion, I can"t tell you of anything more heart-wrenching than I"ve ever gone through in my life. Nothing," Gov. Joe Manchin, who had helped spread the good news, said.

The sole survivor of the Sago, West Virginia, disaster, identified by mining officials as 27-year-old Randal McCloy, was in hospital in a critical condition, a doctor said. When he arrived, he was unconscious but moaning, the hospital said.

Families gathered at the Sago Baptist Church began running out of the church and crying just before midnight, yelling "They"re alive!"

As an ambulance drove away from the mine carrying what families believed was the first survivor, they applauded, not yet knowing there were no others.

The governor later indicated he was uncertain about the news at first. When word of survivors began circulating through the church, he hadn"t heard it, he said.

"All of a sudden we heard the families in a euphoric state, and all the shouting and screaming and joyfulness, and I asked my detachments, I said, "Do you know what"s happening?" Because we were wired in and we didn"t know," Manchin said.