"If it bleeds, it leads." was what my communications professor used to say of the news. In other words, if it was sensational and involved someone "bleeding" it lead the news story. Last night, people were bleeding and hurt due to the tornado in Oklahoma. Looking at the "top stories" section of my homepage nowhere do I see anything about the tornado in Oklahoma or remotely newsworthy for that matter. Instead, it looks like something out of "Entertainment Tonight" or "E! News." Brad Pitt doesn't have many friends, singer sues Mcdonalds Catherine Zeta Jones bipolar, Sharon and Ozzy Ozbourne. I have to go on facebook for any news about the tornadoes in Oklahoma and the survivors. There, I see photos of teachers carrying students to safety after the tornado hits the school, members of our National Guard and a local Air Force Base moving into areas hit by the tornado to search for survivors buried beneath the rubble. I see text RedCross to 90999 to donate to the Red Cross, text Storm 80888 to donate to the Salvation Army, text Food to 32333 to donate to local food banks, call 1-888-HOME-AGAIN if you're in Oklahoma and you've lost your pet or have found someone's pet. Oklahoma didn't stop bleeding but it stopped leading in the news. People ask me why I don't watch the news, don't I want to know what's going on in the world. Sadly, I do but I know I won't get anything but a 2 minute snapshot, if that from the news. As soon as the sensation of the story is over they move on to the next thing. Now if the same devastation had been caused by a terrorist instead of mother nature, the news would have "extensive coverage" as they did after the Boston bombings. We'd see "experts" on every station dissecting footage from every possible angle. The news would be requesting that people who were present call in and if they have footage to download it to their web site. I think it was said best in a recent episode of "Da Vinci's Demons," “Hell exists if the evil of this world exceeds our belief to conquer it." What if there is no good vs. evil? What if, as in the tornado that swept through Oklahoma there is no evil to conquer and only good to be done? Is that not of interest to the news? Is the plight of the human condition no longer of interest to human beings? Have we become so anesthetized to the plight of the human condition that we mourn the loss of a celebrity rather than the lives of those lost to the tornado?
No comments:
Post a Comment