Thursday, December 18, 2008

My first news judgement

I heard a radio piece this week from Robert Krulwich that was characteristically wandering, about an MIT student's recollection of the first time she started thinking like a scientist.

It got me thinking of the first time I started thinking like a member of the effete, East Coast, liberal media elite. Another way to put it: What was my first-ever news judgement?

I think I can pinpoint not just the year, but also the month and in all likelihood the day. It was when "Baby Jessica" McClure (now Jessica Morales) fell into a well in Midland, Texas and gave America a glimpse of just how much the media could saturate a story, given the chance.

I remember watching the news the day after she was rescued (it would have been Oct. 17, 1987) and the newscaster ended the story with: "... and the White House says First Lady Nancy Reagan stayed up last night until Baby Jessica had been rescued."

I could recognize fluff even at age nine. I thought, "What a dumb way to end that story."

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Blogger metheus said...

Apropos of this, I recently started watching the IFC Media Project, which in their words "examines the current state of investigative journalism and how it affects our perceptions of the world around us." I'm finding it extremely interesting.

The first episode featured a man who's line of work is finding stories about missing white girls and pimping them to the news.

December 18, 2008  

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