Titanic 1912: The original news reporting of the sinking of the Titanic

by Ken Rossignol, Elizabeth Mackey (Illustrator), Barry Abrams (Narrator)

The original news stories of the hours, days and weeks following the sinking of the RMS Titanic!
Interviews with survivors, testimony of the crew at the U. S. Senate hearings held just 3 days the ship sank, revealed the ship had been on fire since it left port in Southampton.
How did the newspapers get the story very wrong from the beginning? They reported that the passengers had all been saved and the ship was under tow to Halifax when indeed the ship had sunk and two thirds of those on board lost their lives.
Who were the heroes of the Titanic?
What was the role of the wireless in the rescue?
How has today's media managed to get the story wrong?
This look back at the 1912 news stories by a 21st century reporter brings out how much of the original stories were correct, after the first big errors of the first reports.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical, Ebooks, Amazon, Biography

207 pages, Hardcover

First published March 27, 2012

About the author

Writing in true crime, maritime history and cruise thrillers occupies most of Ken Rossignol's time.
As a maritime history speaker, Rossignol enjoys meeting audiences around the world and discussing the original news stories of the sinking of the RMS Titanic and other maritime history topics.
In recent years Rossignol has appeared on dozens of ships in the Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean and Caribbean discussing the stories of the heroes of the Titanic, the explorations of the new world voyagers, the Bermuda Triangle and the history of piracy.
Rossignol appears at the Titanic Museum Attractions in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and Branson, Missouri for book signings and to talk with visitors about the RMS Titanic.
He has appeared on Good Morning America, ABC 20/20; ABC World News Tonight and in a 2012 production of Discovery Channel Investigation Motives & Murders Series, A Body in the Bay.
News coverage of Rossignol’s landmark civil rights case, represented by Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz re: United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Rossignol v Voorhaar, 2003, included articles in most major news outlets, as well as a column by syndicated columnists James J. Kilpatrick.
The story of the St. Mary's Today newspaper is now available in ebook and paperback: The Story of THE RAG! The book includes nearly 200 editorial cartoons that appeared over the years.
A strong highway safety advocate, Rossignol also publishes the DWIHitParade.com which focuses on impaired driving and the monthly publication, The Chesapeake.
News coverage of Rossignol’s DWIHitParade won an Emmy in 2012 for WJLA reporter Jay Korff and coverage of the St. Mary’s Today newspaper by WUSA reporter Bruce Leshan was awarded an Emmy in 2000.

Reviews

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, the positives. There were many photographs I had not seen before - and some I never care to see again (primarily the one where a body is being pulled from the ocean during the recovery efforts. Even though it was just on my Kindle and it was an old photograph, a bit blurred and all, this is just not something I care to see. However, the myriad of other photographs aided in the story where the text was lacking and I found them to be interesting. Some were repeated however, so perhaps that will be cleaned up in a new edition.

The author seems to have it in for Captain Smith from the start. He makes statements throughout that Captain Smith ignored all the ice warnings, he didn't fire the rockets in the correct order so as to signal distress, etc. While I don't think he ignored the warnings in the way that is implied here, people have to remember Titanic was one of the biggest ships in the world, captained by one of the most experienced seamen at the time. Captain Smith had years of knowledge working against him - along with the notion that the ship was unsinkable. While realistically many seafarers probably recognized that no ship is truly unsinkable, the chaotic and celebratory days of the first voyage must have made it easy for them to want to believe the hype. Secondly, every book I have read thus far of crew member accounts, plus those on the nearby California who refused to answer the distress call, recognized the flares as a distress call. I would have liked the author to elaborate and explain what he means by the rockets not being set off correctly. Unfortunately, there is none.

In addition to lack of information, this applies as well to the interesting premise the author includes early on about comparing Titanic to the Costa Concordia which sank a few years ago. Some of the parallels are mentioned earlier on, but eventually that just kind of goes by the wayside and there's no follow up. It seems kind of pointless to have included it at all, when there was little analysis. Again too, with the author's mention of the book published fourteen years before Titanic sank, called Wreck of the Titan. This was one of the shortest chapters, yet could have been so much more interesting. There were similarities to begin with between the book and Titanic, though I believe I read in a different book that after Titanic sank, a new edition was published with added details to make the sinkings even more similar. Again though, no analysis where there was room for plenty.

All in all, I did find the photographs interesting. I can't completely say don't bother, if only for those. However, this book truly only skimmed the surface and could in truth have been much longer, but also better. I wish the author had delved a little more deeply into the topics I mentioned above, as well as a few others I've chosen not to go into for sake of brevity.

Anyway, if you have never read a single book about Titanic and the movie is your only source of knowledge, do not start with this book. If you have a good base, this one would be okay to delve into.

[Tarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, quick read. "Titanic 1912" reveals the April 1912 newspaper headlines that circled around the great shipwreck... not all the articles were factually correct, but it's the best the reporters could piece together on limited information.

There are some comparisons of the Titanic vs. the recent Concordia incident of 2012. This is a refreshing perspective to find in a Titanic research book.

I could easily see teachers even recommending it for students to read -- especially great in contrasting what was being reported in April 1912, and what historians now know of what happened.

For audio listeners -- the audiobook version is very well done!

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

How very interesting to see how the tragedy was portrayed in the world's newspapers. There were conspiracy theories, accusations made about burning coal weakening the sides.

There were accusations made that people hold off telling their story until they were offered lots of money.

They used the term "Yellow Journalism" during that time, due to all of the rumors and misinformation.

This is a historic must read.

[Sojourner McConnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great first account reports from the survivors. Brings it painfully to life. But it is a story worth telling. Great audioBook with narration that was perfect for the time of the actual event.

[Lynda Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry, but there's a good reason some books are free downloads.....and this one is sadly a prime example !! The photos are barely legible, and that is if you can get them to download on any device. I tried my Kindle, my laptop screen and my phone's screen. The Kindle did the best downloading job but even if you do manage to get the full page, as soon as you zoom in you can't read a thing ! Renders them totally useless....
Now, I could probably get past this, (despite the whole object of the exercise being to illustrate the headlines of the time) if the written word made sense......it doesn't. He has an aversion to commas and I must've read then re-read this passage to myself a dozen times, even out loud, to try and see if it makes sense and it just....doesn't:
"Not only witness testimony by the crew at the official inquiries on both sides of the Atlantic revealed that the ship had not hit the iceberg head-on but had brushed by it on the starboard side with an underwater protrusion ripping open the hull like a can opener."
If you can untangle that and it makes sense to you you're a better man than I !!
He also refers to survivors "which" had been picked up and I'd seen enough by then. This was a whole 10 pages in but some things you just feel in your water aren't going to improve.
I did have to smile to myself that some passengers were immigrants from Syria, even over a hundred years ago !!!
However, this needs to be properly scanned or printed up in a big old coffee-table tome in order to get the full benefit and also needs a good editing exercise.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read that parallels the recent sinking of the Concordia off Italy with that of the Titanic sinking! The reader is presented with actual news accounts of the day in the order in which they broke on the world. Remember all news then was flashed around the road via wireless radio, or in Morse Code! Messages were placed in stacks and then transmitted in order, with those which collected the largest fees being sent first. This was the first of many mistakes that would result in needless deaths and delays in rescue ships reaching the Titanic survivors. Some officers were cowards while others did their duty even though it ultimately cost them their lives. May of the heroic figures who put women and children before all others are revealed along with they personal sacrifices, some were immensely rich, well known and others simple people performing exemplary acts of personal sacrifice to save others! The book takes the reader back into the time of the event, the politics and the jockeying afterwards to save personal reputations. Why did the ship leave port with a fire raging at the bottom of a coal bunker? Did that fire weaken the steel making it fail when struck by the ice berg? These and many other questions are answered in this great read!

[Kirsti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this for free on my Kindle a few days back, and I was stuck waiting in the car while my BF helped his father with a few things, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It wasn't bad, not I felt like it was poorly constructed for a Kindle book. At one point all the writing overlapped underneath a picture of Molly Brown, and I couldn't even read it. I think it's just my older model Kindle, but I couldn't get any of the pictures or articles to full screen either so I was left squinting at it haha.

My one other complaint is the random comparison to The Costa Concordia sinking, but the comparison barely got off the ground and stuttered out after a few awkward paragraphs. It was almost like the author lost track of what was being written, or some of it was missing or something. Very odd!

I did like reading some of the articles when I could see them, and some of the pictures were just amazing. I bet I would rate this higher in physical book form as opposed to Kindle too. Three stars for now.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on the Titanic! This book focuses on the news reporting after the sinking of the Titanic. It's a fascinating historical account of the immediate aftermath of the disaster and how many mistakes were made reporting about those who were rescued and what went on. It's chock full of pictures and old newspaper articles, and all of it made some interesting reading. I recommend this book, especially if you love reading about the Titanic. Thanks to the author who provided the free copy to review.

[Michele Northwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Titanic: by Ken Rossington
I really enjoyed reading this book. ‘Enjoy’ sounds wrong in the aftermath of such a tragedy, but it made a refreshing change to read about the Titanic after the terrible event had happened rather than the actual sinking of the ship. The book is full of real newspaper cuttings to collaborate the information in the book, and photos of the passengers both survivors and deceased, which makes the whole thing so much more poignant. Anyone with an interest in the Titanic story would like this book.

[Carlleen Cairns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Titanic 12 was a good read, full of historical facts and pictures as well as diagrams of the events of that fateful night. The Titanic even after all this time lives on in many forms, it was a ship of dreams that turned into a nightmare and this book captures both the dreams and the nightmare; this is definitely a good read

[Yazir Paredes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history of all rumors and news from the time of the sinking of the Titanic. Its nice if you want to understand the press hype of the time. For me there might be too much information. If you like to know everything about the Titanic, this book gives you a good look on what was thought, commented, rumored and communicated at the time.

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very quick read. The Kindle version had some duplicate photos in it. But interesting!

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had some interesting facts in it that I wasn't aware of as well as pictures and diagrams. This still remains a fascinating subject for me to read about.

[Chaplain Stanley Chapin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult to understand the misinformation

We now hope that the standards of the media are more correct than at that time. Now the misinformation seems to from the government.

[Susan Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a couple of new things via this book whichsurprised me.

[Jamie (The Kansan Reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmmmm very interesting.

[Susan Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, but the poor editing was very distracting.

[Jan C · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2☆. Not totally sure of all the accuracy. A GR friend has noted that David Sarnoff (NBC?) Lied for years about being a wireless recipient of the message that the Titanic was lost.

What I liked the most about this was the current articles written at the time the ship went down. Seeing, almost raw, the front line of history (journalism). Not the most accurate or calmest reports but good to see what they were saying at the time that it happened.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very unique newspaper articles that without this book I would have never known about. It was certainly a more sensationalized view of the Titanic tragedy. I did feel however the author at times got side-tracked with the subject at hand and most of the articles have to be explained by the author because they are too small in print for the reader to read. I would have liked to have been able to read them in their completeness my self.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Years ago I read a large hardcover book about the sinking of the Titanic. I was fascinated by the story. Years later I watched the Titanic movie at the theatre with my daughter and her friend.
I chose to read this book to fill a square on my BINGO card. It has a number on the cover. The pictures in this book were interesting to look at. Some of the facts were interesting, and I did read them all. However,
my memories of the first book I read about the Titanic was much more interesting. It had facts, but was "fleshed out" more. Sorry that I cannot recall the title.
3 stars

[Lois Welsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always wanted to find out the full story about the TITANIC.

I was interested in the news reports, the investigation, the rumors that were true or not.

To see the actual news articles is something that I appreciate.

I am glad that they made new laws regarding having enough life boats on a ship for ALL the passengers.

I also like that the wireless communications was installed on ships.

When I was in high school I would pass notes in Morse Code so others could not read what I was saying to my friends.

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating read

This book was fascinating! I could not put it down. Much of what was revealed through contemporary accounts, I had never seen or heard before. This book certainly added perspective to what we now know about the Titanic disaster.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been interested in the story of Titanic since reading Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember", and after seeing t he recent Titanic exhibit at the Reagan Library, a book sharing some of the newspaper accounts in the aftermath of the sinking sounded fascinating. It was better in concept than in execution, though.

Ken Rossignol shares a selection of articles that came out in the weeks and months after the sinking, including articles from major newspapers and illustrated stories from a defunct English magazine of the era. Ken shows us the early erroneous reports of no loss of life and the immediate response from politicians to the sinking. We see how early some of the more persistent falsehoods surrounding Titanic's sinking began, how some publishers' outstanding feuds with key figures involved colored coverage, and how coverage of the sinking focused on the best known of the passengers. It was interesting to read excerpts of those "first drafts" of the historical record, and to get a better feel to how the public in the U.K. and the U.S. reacted to news of the disaster.

The main problem I had with the book was a fairly scattershot approach to its organization. Several illustrations are repeated multiple times in the book for unknown reasons; a chapter featuring online reactions to a 2010 US News and World Report article on Titanic Ken stated was inaccurate was very out of place other than to demonstrate that the media and public still get the facts about Titanic wrong, and some comments about the modern media and the Costa Concordia disaster serve only to detract from the primary focus of the book. I would have loved to read even more contemporary accounts of the aftermath of the sinking, especially of the U.S. and UK inquiries to the sinking, but the book focuses more on the weeks immediately afterward. Men's book is a good start, but it feels like there should be more to the story. Not a bad book for folks who are already familiar with what happened and are aftermath, because of its new perspective on the disaster, but there are better books about the sinking out there.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review by Anthony T. Riggio of the book "Titanic" 1912 by Ken Rossingnol

I read this little gem of a book in a day and a half (three hours). It is a story spun around then current News paper articles from The US, Canada, Ireland and England. I down loaded this book (for free) from Kindle and is a handy reference book for lovers of history. Ken Rossignol does a good job in his narrations and there are so many great stories in this collection of facts and witnesses of the event.

My one complaint is that the numerous photos and newspaper articles are unreadable on my Paperwhite Kindle, consequently, I looked at them on my Kindle fire and they were a little better and easier to expand but the news print stories are totally unreadable. You would think that technology today would make these newspaper clips more readable. A more readable news clip, I believe would peak the interests in young readers and future lovers of history. I guess we will just have to wait and see. I have read hard books that were able to reproduce the news articles with greater clarity. Amazon should take note as we more and more migrate to electronic books.

This being said, I recommend this book to those wanting to examine some of the most interesting sides stories of the sinking of the Titanic. I just recently completed a book by Eric Larson entitled "Thunderstruck" which highlighted Marconi's wireless radio communication and mentions his name in the instant book and how he was called to testify before a Senate committee investigating the sinking. there is no question of the benefit ship to ship and shoe wireless communications were in the analysis of the Titanic event.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and recommend it as a very short look at the sinking of the Titanic.

[Kathy Apple · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting Titanic book! Having read many books about the sinking of the Titanic, this book was unique in that it told the story of the "news" of that sinking including all the misconceptions as well out out-right errors in reporting very important information from the very beginning. The Titanic had already gone to her watery grave while press reports indicated all "souls were safe" and the ship was being towed to safety. Newspaper coverage, wires, investigations, dispatches to/from many different persons/entities are all included in this very informative book. Discrepancies in "wireless" messages, including messages from the Titanic itself, incorrect assumptions on the cause of the sinking, and statements by affected individuals are all included in this book with excellent comparisons to current day reporting...some of which have not improved in over 100 years. Also related conspiracy theories and cover ups are addressed. Interestingly, the Titanic disaster is also contrasted against the Costa Concordia disaster which occurred 100 years later. It is fascinating to see how the "press" (and the modern day media) skewed the facts (or lack of facts) in order to increase sales without, seemingly, a care about accuracy. If they didn't have the information, they simply made it up or built a story on a splinter of a foundation or a misunderstanding.

This is an excellent book to include if interested in the initial reactions/revelations of the tragedy.

[Sheila Carsins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Easy to Read, Direct, Concise, and to the Point.

This book on the Titanic was very easy to understand, and comprehend. As always, it's a tale that will break your heart, no matter how the material is presented. It was a terrible tragedy that will continue to haunt me all the rest of my life. What a waste of life! May God bless those poor souls, and may their afterlife be kinder to them, particularly the band that continued to play until the ship simply sank, and all of those heroes that bravely and selflessly gave up their lives to save others, or simply stepped aside and allowed someone else to take their place in the lifeboats. How does one decide who's worthy of living or dying, and how did they decide who should go and who should stay? Where does the courage to stay come from, when you know there's nothing and nobody to come to your aid, and that all hope is lost? How do you separate families and friends, and just let go? Why? How?

Why do we keep reading about the Titanic? It was sitting on the bottom of the ocean long before I was born, yet I shall continue reading about it, and shedding tears for all of those poor lost souls every time... such a waste... such a tragedy...

[Patsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has true news paper reports, facts, and other personal accounts of what really happen to the Titanic in 1912 and the lives of the people that were on it. Things that I had never heard or read about, very educational. This is a different view of the story of the Titanic. Ken Rossignol is a wonderful author and knows how to write to hold your interest. I had read some of his other books and enjoyed them also. This amazing book is full of actual news paper reports and pictures throughout the book. A must read.

[Chris Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great research & writing

Rossignol has presented us with an outstanding research of the press accounts of the time. I enjoyed this book for the trip back in time. As a former history teacher I was especially interested in the variety of accurate and inaccurate reporting immediately after the RMS Titanic tragedy.

I also enjoyed the photos and newsprint article of the time, but would have liked it better if the articles were readable. Nevertheless, kudos to Mr. Rossignol for a well researched analysis of the Titanic reporting.

[Liz Oneill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am fascinated with the misinformation delivered at the time of the rescue by the Carpathia. Someone released the story that the Titanic was in tow and the entire passenger list was rescued and pulling into port AS the Titanic was settling on the bottom of the ocean floor with the poor and the rich. The ocean is not choosy. Names such as Guggenheim, Astor, Straus, NY bankers,& builder of the Brooklyn Bridge Roebling. 1500 perished and 705 saved.
The plot is thickening. I'm just getting to the part where $$$ was involved in why& how information was withheld.

[Judy Ferrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well-written book. I found it very enjoyable. I also found information about the Titanic that I did not know or had forgotten. I would recommend it to anyone interested in history and finding the truth.