Just when you thought it was safe to watch the news. . . Normally, it’s not a good thing when news is slow because if there’s no actual news to report, then the media will be happy to make some up for us. That’s when we end up with news gems like “What is the guy who deep fries your potatoes doing moments before he cooks your food?” (asked in the most ominous tone of voice possible). Such melodramatics are simply the nature of the media beast, and it’s not entirely the fault of media outlets. After all, for them it’s merely self-preservation. When do people watch/read/listen to the news? When something interesting is going on. So if they want to keep their jobs, media types must come up with something, anything, to hold our attention — something like the goriest, grimmest and most frightening stories.We can’t say that they haven’t tried to report good stuff. They try. Every now and again public outrage against news sources crops up, and people whine about how good news is never reported. Then news organizations come up with stuff like “local heroes” segments or exciting headlines about people saving other people from stampeding elephants. Sadly, John Q. Public just doesn’t find either of those topics nearly as interesting as “local villains” or a story about people actually getting stomped by elephants. We have sick minds.
In the past year, slow news days have resulted in every gunshot fired in the Middle East being reported as the beginning of World War III. It’s easy to forget, when watching the media’s fervor over recent events, that similar events have been going on for ages. In all likelihood, there was violence in the Middle East on September 10, 2001. Back then, this would be reported on page 11B with all the other international news. Now a shooting in the Middle East scrolls through on every single news channel endlessly, at least until another violent eruption occurs.
The news media’s search for bad news didn’t begin with the events of September 11, however. Think back to last summer. Public enemy number one last summer wasn’t Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. It wasn’t even George W. Bush. It was sharks. Remember how much we hated sharks last August? They were biting people right and left, not even caring if their victims were swimming in front of public beaches.
This seaside blood frenzy led the media on a blood frenzy of its own, and all of a sudden sharks were being portrayed as merciless serial killers intent on wiping out mankind, or at least surfer-kind. All of this hoopla despite the fact that every single person who was bitten by a shark last summer (and likely at any point in time) was either luring sharks in or intruding on the natural habitat of the shark. In fact, if one didn’t care to get bitten by a shark, one only needed to take one simple precaution: get out of the ocean.
Now I don’t sit around watching CNN fulltime, so maybe I missed it, but I haven’t heard shark bite reference number one this summer. Do you think this is because sharks have mysteriously stopped biting people? No. People haven’t changed their ocean-swimming ways and sharks haven’t let up on their people-gnawing ways. I think that reporters just feel a little silly pretending sharks are evil when we’re still cleaning up the debris from real evil in New York City.
So this summer’s news slump forced the media to search in a different direction for the big story. Beginning with Elizabeth Smart’s bewildering disappearance from her own bedroom in June, there have unfortunately been plenty of child disappearances to fill the pages of newspapers and the mouths of television reporters. This is also a topic that provides readymade emotional manipulation without even a teary expression or cracking voice on the part of the announcer.
Like the sharks of last summer and the Middle Eastern violence of the past year, though, the kidnapping fervor of this summer isn’t a new development. Children have been disappearing for a while now, as evidenced by milk carton photos and shows like America’s Most Wanted. And almost every community has its tragedy. Charlotte and the surrounding areas have certainly not forgotten the disappearance of Asha Degree.
I suppose, though, that “better late than never” applies in this situation. This is one time when the media’s zeal for a grim story has actually yielded positive results, directing national attention to these disappearances and putting the pressure on kidnappers and murderers. In fact, it’s likely that part of the reason for Alejandro Avila’s quick capture in the Samantha Runnion kidnapping and murder case was the national publicity the case received.
So in addition to taking the heat off of sharks, the media, even in its search for summer ratings, has actually increased public awareness of child disappearances and what people can do to prevent them. I give them credit: their coverage is contributing to more criminals being apprehended. Though I rarely can find a good word for the media, they deserve a pat on the back for this one. I only hope that they can maintain their enthusiasm for covering real and helpful news, and don’t find it necessary to return to their old scavenging, shark-deprecating ways.
This article appears in Aug 21-27, 2002.
