The anatomy of a news story
1)
Go wall to wall coverage with big bold graphics
and ominous music; get it out first, and worry about fact checking later.
2)
The President, in a pastoral role, must say
appropriate words to comfort the nation.
3)
Government feels like it must make a response to
the crisis. Doing something by
government is always to be preferred over doing nothing;
4)
Pundits evaluate the reasons behind the tragedy
and evaluate government proposals;
5)
As the news story goes “old,” the attention
shifts to psychologists, particularly on the question, “How do we explain this
tragedy to our children?”
6)
As the story begins to fade, the last issue is
media people interviewing other media people about how well the media covered
the story.
We are currently at stage 4 and just about to enter stage 5 on the Newtown tragedy. I wish this template were not so standard. And I wish that seeking the Lord by prayer and fasting was reinserted into our national narrative of tragedy.
Stage 5 is now upon us: http://news.yahoo.com/talk-violence-death-parents-spoke-children-newtown-211100341.html
ReplyDeleteand
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sara-carder/talking-to-kids-about-newtown_b_2324976.html
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20760883 (note the reference to the psychologist)
Stage 6 is just starting:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/12/connecticut_school_shooting_why_the_media_should_cover_tragedies_like_the.html
So, we are getting close to "moving on" to another story. The Moms and Dads of the dead children in Newtown will not be doing the same. Let's keep praying, even after the story has, to use media parlance, "lost legs."
Great post, Scott!
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