Why we hate the media, part infinity
Apr. 18th, 2012 11:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marinessSo I was indulging in my guilty pleasure of Revenge tonight (I admit; I have a severe crush on Nolan. And a minor crush on the actress playing "Amanda.") and unusually enough didn't turn off the TV before the local news came on.
It reminded me just why I need to turn of the TV before the local news comes on.
It's not that I don't want to be informed. But.
On Sunday, some bicyclists found two burning bodies on the side of a bike trail. That is awful enough. Today, they were identified as two teenagers from a local high school, which is even worse. Just a horrible, horrible story, and not surprisingly, the lead story on the news.
Now, I have to say that I can't immediately think of a good way to handle this, other than perhaps retelling the bit about the bicyclists and the identification of the teenagers, especially since the cops are apparently not releasing any other information except the identities of the victims, so the media doesn't have much to go on here. Even with that, though, they failed.
Because instead of quoting the cops, or friends of the victims (who understandably aren't talking) or parents of the victims (ditto) or even the typical concerned neighbor of "It's really scary -- it makes you feel unsafe, you know?" or even bicyclists, they went to the high school and interviewed some students, and added that in an exclusive, they had learned that "one of the victims called a friend, apparently by accident."
The MORE THAN SLIGHT PROBLEM WITH THIS?
That report was based on interviews with the students, who were repeating what they had heard in school. In other words, mere rumors.
I don't blame the students. They said, and I am quoting, "I heard that there were sounds of running...." [on a phone call that one of the victims VERY allegedly made to an unnamed friend. They admitted that they had not heard the phone call in question and that they were only repeating what they'd heard in school.
I think we all know how quickly incredibly false information can spread in school.
ABC assured us that they had learned that the call in question really happened -- while ALSO telling us (and showing us) that the alleged receiver of that call had refused to talk to them on camera. They told us what his friends had said about the call.
And that was the SOURCED part of the story. ABC also told us that the murder happened because of a $500 drug deal gone bad, with no accompanying police statement.
Look. I know the media is desperate to tell the story; I assume the community wants to know what the hell happened -- I mean, I want to know what happened. But is it really too much to ask the media to wait for a statement from an actual witness or the cops, instead of reporting what a bunch of high schoolers happen to be saying?
It reminded me just why I need to turn of the TV before the local news comes on.
It's not that I don't want to be informed. But.
On Sunday, some bicyclists found two burning bodies on the side of a bike trail. That is awful enough. Today, they were identified as two teenagers from a local high school, which is even worse. Just a horrible, horrible story, and not surprisingly, the lead story on the news.
Now, I have to say that I can't immediately think of a good way to handle this, other than perhaps retelling the bit about the bicyclists and the identification of the teenagers, especially since the cops are apparently not releasing any other information except the identities of the victims, so the media doesn't have much to go on here. Even with that, though, they failed.
Because instead of quoting the cops, or friends of the victims (who understandably aren't talking) or parents of the victims (ditto) or even the typical concerned neighbor of "It's really scary -- it makes you feel unsafe, you know?" or even bicyclists, they went to the high school and interviewed some students, and added that in an exclusive, they had learned that "one of the victims called a friend, apparently by accident."
The MORE THAN SLIGHT PROBLEM WITH THIS?
That report was based on interviews with the students, who were repeating what they had heard in school. In other words, mere rumors.
I don't blame the students. They said, and I am quoting, "I heard that there were sounds of running...." [on a phone call that one of the victims VERY allegedly made to an unnamed friend. They admitted that they had not heard the phone call in question and that they were only repeating what they'd heard in school.
I think we all know how quickly incredibly false information can spread in school.
ABC assured us that they had learned that the call in question really happened -- while ALSO telling us (and showing us) that the alleged receiver of that call had refused to talk to them on camera. They told us what his friends had said about the call.
And that was the SOURCED part of the story. ABC also told us that the murder happened because of a $500 drug deal gone bad, with no accompanying police statement.
Look. I know the media is desperate to tell the story; I assume the community wants to know what the hell happened -- I mean, I want to know what happened. But is it really too much to ask the media to wait for a statement from an actual witness or the cops, instead of reporting what a bunch of high schoolers happen to be saying?