Mon, July 24, 2006
Start Panicking Now—11:43 AM
The 37signals blog recently pointed out this intriguing contrast in news reporting styles:
Which reminded me of another example I intended to mention, but I was in an airport in Wyoming when it happened, and by the time I was within reach of the Internet's many tubes, I had kind of forgotten.
Remember a few weeks ago, that building that exploded in New York City? We now know that its owner caused the explosion as part of a divorce battle, but even 20 or 30 minutes after it happened, the fire department chief was telling us that it seemed to be caused by a gas leak. (This turned out to be correct; it was just an intentional gas leak.)
But what was the headline up on CNN's screen, while live and pre-taped footage of the rubble and the recovery effort played?
a. Gas Leak Causes Building Explosion
b. Building Explodes: Fire Official Suspects Gas Leak
c. Building Explodes in NYC
d. Beyonce Tired of the Term 'Bootylicious'
Unsurprisingly, answer C. Maximum drama, minimum information. Allows the casual channel-surfer to be panicked by the potential of another terrorist attack (which is an easy impulse, when presented with footage of a New York building reduced to rubble), and settle in to watch CNN until someone tells him everything is okay. (It could be a while.)
Also unsurprisingly, CNN expressed a clear preference for the sound bites in which eyewitnesses (including their own Larry King, who is a journalist like I'm a neurosurgeon) said things like, "it sounded like a bomb" or, "all I could think of was 9/11." My sister astutely observed, "How many of these people have ever actually heard a bomb go off? What they meant was, 'it sounded like an explosion,' which it was." Exactly. But if you've got someone making statements that imply murderous intent rather than what at the time was considered an accident, why not lead with those?
I can't say I'm shocked that all the neighbor lady could think of was 9/11. All any of us can think of is 9/11. The Bush administration won't stop invoking it!
Oh, and you can believe CNN also wasted two minutes on "humorous" banter between the anchor and Larry King over his reluctance to accept the cell phone CNN had forced upon him months earlier.
Bee Boy — Tue, 7/24/07 11:52am
Funny timing: this just happened again with that steam explosion last week. Early reports spoke of a building collapse, although only the street fell in. Even after it was determined that no criminal misconduct contributed to the incident, the headline was "Attack does not appear terrorist in nature."
Actually the timing isn't all that surprising. The cable news outlets do this shit so constantly, it's bound to recur on its own one-year anniversary all the time.