In the May 25 blog post, I observed the significant difference in information being presented regarding the tragic incident where a child fell from a trail at Chimney Rock Park.
However, the reporters did their job to understand the tragedy and collect information, but initially the park personnel was trying to hold back until they could handle the obvious fact that all the facts were over the place. I understand that news breaking can be difficult to handle.
Must reporters be present at the location to acquire the narrative? How many of the nearby media outlets genuinely dispatched journalists to the location on that day in order to cover the story? Should they promptly release any and all details, regardless of whether it originates from secondary or tertiary sources? Or should they exercise restraint until the majority of the fundamental facts are ascertained? What actions should news organizations take in situations of this nature?
These are all essential inquiries.
The Spanish newspaper La Voz obtained the interview with the mother. As the mother of the deceased child provided details to a local newspaper, park officials modified their official account of the incident. Meanwhile, the narrative surrounding Chimney Rock continues to develop.
What is the number of Spanish-speaking news reporters employed by Citizen-Times, the largest news-gathering organization in the region? They are completely ill-equipped to address the needs of the local Hispanic community. This problem exposes another evident flaw within mainstream news sources in Western North Carolina.
The mother of a 2-year-old who fell to his death at Chimney Rock State Park, southeast of Asheville, is disputing reports from park officials who said the boy ran from her and fell after slipping under a wooden rail.
Bibiana Saenz Bautista, 28, told the Spanish newspaper La Voz that she had her son, Giovani “Nani” Chávez Saenz, by the hand when he suddenly tried to pull away, lost his footing and fell between two wooden rails that guard the Skyline Trail.
“There were about 15 of us. We were walking nearly single file in an area maybe a meter (39 inches) wide,” Saenz said Thursday. “He had a hold of my hand, when he wanted to join his cousins who were walking in front and pulled at my hand. His foot slipped, and he fell between the rails. He disappeared below, and that was the last time I saw my son until I saw his body at the hospital.”
Division of Parks and Recreation spokesman Charlie Peek initially said that the mother was holding her child’s hand, walking between him and the railing, just before he fell on May 24. Peek said in a telephone interview Thursday night that his information was the result of a statement Saenz apparently made to Lake Lure police officer Glenn Gittens, who served as an interpreter.
Peek corrected the part of the report that said the mother was walking on the outside of the trail. He said it was the child who was walking next to the railing, adding that the discrepancy stemmed from secondhand, word-of-mouth information contradicted by written investigative notes, apparently also the result of Gittens’ interpretation.
Peek said investigators have wanted to talk again to Saenz and her husband, Arturo Chávez García, 25, but the couple had not returned several messages left at the home of Saenz’s sister.
Saenz said she has received no such messages and only Tuesday had a telephone line installed in her home.
Peek said park signs warn visitors of the risks of falling and even death at the beginning of the Skyline and Cliff trails. He said the park discourages parents from taking smaller children on the trails because of the cliffs.
“We didn’t see any signs in Spanish,” Saenz said. “If they don’t think children should be on those trails, then why does it say at the entrance, ‘Adults $14 and children under 6, free?’”