REFLECTOR: OT Plane hits an apartment building in NYC

Dave Black dvblack at comcast.net
Sun Oct 15 05:25:21 CDT 2006


Tom,


> But I believe ... the real "slant in news" is not necessarily HOW they
> cover events ... but rather WHAT they cover.

You are absolutely correct!

In most cases I believe the individual reporters believe they are 
telling the true story. Trouble is, the story often concerns a subject 
in which they have no background. But they aren't aware they don't know 
important information, so go ahead and report their own feelings and the 
speculations of others as fact.

In the case of news stories involving aviation, I'm sure we can all tell 
within the first paragraph whether the reporter has an aviation 
background or not. And even if he has the story truly screwed up, we can 
often figure out what really happened.

But the Public does not have that background. So they tend to believe 
what the reporter says. In this case, many versions of "Thousands of 
little planes could be in our skies and heading for an apartment near 
you."

And of course, when the big scare is over and the true facts are known, 
you rarely hear or see a report showing what really happened or why. 
Because the news media tends toward the sensational. In the immediate 
case, if it was simply caused by a pilot miscalculating a turn in a 
Government-mandated blind canyon, then that's just boring and we won't 
bother.

> I have a love-hate feeling about my industry. 

I do too -- as you can probably tell.

> But please be aware that
> there are some of us who take our responsibilities seriously.

Yes there are. But unfortunately you guys are outnumbered. Maybe because 
Assignment Editors don't want boring facts -- they want the sensational. 
Or they won't give a reporter time to dig in and find out what really 
happened. But for whatever reason, it's best to take every bit of news 
you read or hear with a grain of salt.

The Technical Director of a large TV station shared with me his 
impression of the station's news promos: "Watch our 11pm news or you 
will die!"


Dave Black


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