News in Black and White
“Good night and good luck!” – A movie with great value, a movie that contains history, a movie that has a significant influence on our society and the development of journalism!
Plot and historical background:
The movie takes place in the early 1950´s. It is the time of anti-communism in America which came up during the Cold War and the Soviet Union´s atom bomb. People were afraid that there won´t be a democracy which is clearly shown in the film. The television news broadcaster Edward R. Murrow criticizes Joseph McCarthy during his broadcast time because of his anti-communist actions. He is an American politician who tries to uncover communist actions in governmental organizations. However, he hurts the civil rights of some people by doing this. When an Air Force soldier had to leave the military because he refused to betray his family to McCarthy, Murrow starts to talk negatively about McCarthy in his news show. He expresses that it is him who endangers the democracy and not the communists. His news announcements on CBS are very successful and McCarthy loses his job because of the negative statements about him. Nevertheless, Edward´s friend, who is also a broadcaster, commits suicide which, in addition to the fact that entertaining shows become more and more, causes his success to decrease. In the end of the movie, he says that it is the television´s responsibility to teach and to inspire the audience.
thefeeherytheory.com
Significance for journalism and communications students:
It is obvious that the movie has a striking impact and importance to journalism today and in former times. Not only that it teaches young journalists the difference or even similarities of communication, even more it shows the incredible power journalism has. People from one single news show were able to ruin the career of a politician and to change opinions of others. His words reached the whole nation so that he was able to manipulate the viewer´s viewpoints by expressing his opinion. This is also the case in communication nowadays. Even though opinions are left out of news stories, the media forms our opinion unconsciously. Advertisements talk convincing about a product which is presented by a beautiful woman or man who doesn´t fit the norm or a prominent person who is constantly in the public eye. Here has communication such as journalism the power to reach a wide mass of people and to spread information no matter if it is true or not. It has the power to change and make people believe. In the past, today, and in the future! This is important for journalists to know. They have the chance to make a change. They are needed in our society.
siegelproductions.ca
What impact does Edward R.Murrow have on the news industry?
First of all, the standards of news industries have changed. Nowadays, it is inappropriate to publish the own opinion. No matter if it was acceptable in the past or not, the consequences nowadays would be way different. In the movie “Good night and good luck” the broadcast becomes very successful. These days, this behavior would cause a lot of trouble. I don´t want to claim that people think critically about what they´ve been told but I am quite sure that most people wouldn´t consider it immediately as a trustworthy source when they hear such a strong opinion. In whole, the ethical behavior of reporters changed by just giving facts and leaving any opinions out of news stories. Also, he wanted to keep the right of freedom of speech. What if there wouldn´t have been free speech anymore? This is unimaginable today. Journalists would need to think about every single word they want to say and the whole industry would be restricted.
advocatusatheist.blogspot.com
This movie is definitely worth to watch. Even more when you are a prospective journalist or your plan is to work in the communication area. Do not only learn about communications, also take a little history with you.
Add a comment November 22, 2011
A picture is worth a thousand words…
Being a broadcaster requires you to have specific skills, skills that are somehow different to the ones of a print journalist. They need to attract the audience´s ears, so how to achieve this? It might sound like an easy task but for a great number of people it seems to be a significant challenge. Important, in any case, is to give the information in a conversational way and to keep the sentences short so that it is simple for the listener´s to grasp.
(Raffaella Loro, flickr)
One option of broadcasting is being a videographer. I´m especially interested in this type of reporter because I always had a passion for taking pictures, shooting movies, and creative exercises in general. Combining journalism and digital cinema arts as my majors might offer me more opportunities in this area during my future job search. For the reason that I could never decide between reporting events and producing movies on a film set, being a videographer might be a great chance to connect these preferences.
What exactly is a videographer now and how does it differ from a broadcaster who reports events live on location?
First of all, a videographer literally shoots the event or anything that happened, whereas the other broadcaster simply talks about it. What are the pros and cons about that? As a videographer, you provide information through moving pictures. To do that, you have to gather a big amount of material so that you can put it together to a valuable news story. Positive is that the material can be edited for the reason that a lot of work needs to be done before the video gets published. One significant difference is therefore the fact that not even half of the work of a videographer is done after gathering the information. If you broadcast live, on the other hand, you do your work while you are talking and don´t take anything home. Also, it is almost impossible to change what you´ve just said. A mistake is a mistake and keeps a mistake.
(therecordingrevolution.com)
Many people have respect for talking to an audience live. Not only that you have to be spontaneous and have to find the right words, even more you need to stick to the allotted time which is a very difficult part of the job. How can you express everything that you want in just one and a half minutes? How can you make sure that my audience understands the importance of the story?
In addition, it is not a rareness that people say “Oh my god, do I really look like I do here in the video? Do I seriously sound like that?” It is the truth, most people just don´t like seeing themselves in a video. If you do, go ahead, you found the perfect job. In case you don´t, think about publishing the information you have through newspapers or self-made videos, or simply avoid watching you on television. The last option, on the other hand, might keep you from becoming more professional in what you are doing. Observing yourself in television gives you the opportunity to indentify little mistakes and to improve your appearance.
For me, videography is an entertaining way to provide the public with information. It is widely known that people prefer watching videos and looking at pictures than reading a long article from time to time. Even more, a single picture often has more power to express a message than a whole article is able to.
(wikipedia.com, Tryptofish)
Let´s stick to the quotation “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
(Attributed to Frederick R. Barnard´s idea)
Add a comment November 6, 2011
It´s Patch Panel Time!
Please tell me somthing about journalism!
It was another Patch day in journalism class! This time, five local editors, Joe Barker from St. Peters, Maggie Rotermund from Wentzville, Tamara Duncan from Lake St. Louis, Jim Baer from Ladue-Frontenac, Chase Castle from Ballwin-Ellisville, and the regional editor Kurt Greenbaum came to our university to inform us about journalism in general.
Kurt Greenbaum works in the field of journalism since he was at our age. He went to College in Illinois and worked for a newspaper in South Florida. His most recent job before Patch was at the Saint Louis Dispatch. He wishes that he appreciated what he was doing because he wasn´t aware of the fact that the work he did was the only way for people to get information. He realized late how impressive his work really was and noticed its importance when he was employed as an online editor in the field of business. While he was talking he also pointed out that the media landscape changed a lot which is noticeable by observing where people get their news from. When it was about 80% of people who got their news from the newspapers earlier these days, the number of percentage is definitely decreasing nowadays. As little hint at the end of our conversation he said that “The key is to be curious.” Curiosity about talking to other people and asking questions is very important while being a good journalist.
Jim Baer started with the statement that we were in the right place in case we love to write. He already had a passion for writing when he was eight or nine when he knew that he wanted to be a sports writer. He was a big fan of football in Missouri and wanted to watch all the games which was a striking point in choosing his career. He reached his aims and became a sports editor for 16 years. When he started his career, he wished that he knew more about backpack journalism before. Journalists need to be multimedia journalists nowadays and have to learn all the different techniques such as shooting videos and editing to create an interesting story. Referring to the job outlook these days, he pointed out that your chances depend on how badly we wanted the job because there are actually thousands of jobs available out there. You just have to show your strong will to get it. As a tip how to get news stories he told us about his experiences. When he tries to find a newsworthy story, he solely looks at the numbers in his cell phone, calls them, and listens. According to him, “Multilisten is more important than multitask.” He gives us the advice to stay connected at any time.
Tamara Duncan started working for the newspaper in 5th grade and continued in high school and junior high. She actually learned “Elementary Education” but wanted to keep on writing so that she wrote pieces for children´s magazines. She also worked as an editor and took ten years off before she started working for Patch. She came up with some important statements which were, for example, that you cannot be a writer when you´re not a reader. Furthermore, she mentioned that people usually don´t need any ethical classes because they already have the sense for what the right behavior is.
Maggie Rotermund has always been interested in journalism and wishes that she knew before that a journalist often had to do things you cannot be prepared for. A reporter simply cannot be aware of what a day is going to be like. She told us that it was good to start in a smaller paper because it meant a good training ground. She spoke from her experience that even if she made little mistakes while working for a small newspaper, they would have told her. This helped to get along with criticism. The key for getting a story, for her, is to go out and talk. The key for writing a good story, on the other hand, is to be interested in the topic. According to her, readers can literally tell if you don´t care about what you´re writing about so that the writer needs to take the challenge to make it interesting to him- or herself.
Joe Barker started his journalism career when he worked for the high school newspaper. In 2008, he graduated from college and worked for 22 months until he started working for Patch. Before he started his career, he really wanted to know that being a journalist means having a lot of work without earning a big amount of money. He realized this when he worked for a daily newspaper in an office with five people. In high school, he was used to 60 people who were working together so that this was a big change for him. After talking about the money aspect, he told us that we shouldn´t be too pessimistic about the current job market. He motivated us that most employers are searching for people who just graduated from college with incorporating the insignificant detail at the end that we are cheap employees.
Chase Castle grew up in Chicago and made music journalism to his field of profession. He expressed that there are positive and negative aspects related to journalism by talking about “cool and crapy” parts. This seemed very familiar to us journalism majors for the reason that we talked about it in class before. As a tip where to search for news stories, he advised us to simply talk to people on the street, in a bar, or in the park. There are so many ways to get a good story.
In whole, their visit was insightful such as the speech of Holly Edgell. It is a great resource to talk to people who are experienced in that field and to get some advice from them. Thanks for taking the time to come to our school!
Add a comment October 31, 2011
Your Opinion? – No, Thanks!
“Why should opinions be left out of news stories?” The answer is: Let the facts speak for themselves. No. This was the answer in my journalism class, but for me, this statement was not satisfying and it is still not.
To be honest, I have never cogitated about leaving opinions out of news articles. I was always thinking I could change my reader´s opinion by publishing mine. By thinking about it a little further, it really makes sense to solely use facts in a news story.
First of all, who of you likes to be pushed in a specific direction? Exactly! It is as if your mom or dad told you to stop eating that much candies when you were younger. “I like it, I´m not gonna stop eating it!” would be a child´s answer. That´s what lots of readers do. They think “I like my idea, I´m not gonna change it because of you.”
Fact is, that a significant number of people were likely to feel offended by someone publishing his or her ideas which seem to contradict their own ones. Journalists have a strong tendency to have an opinion because they are informed about a lot what is going on in the world and what they are talking about. Because of that, it is a tough task for them to seal their mouths, but they have to try not to be biased while writing or verbally reporting. Nobody wants to lose reader´s for the reason that they have another point of view. Inequality is human and shouldn´t be a reason for being offended. Just reporting facts is the key to prevent this to happen.
However, I couldn’t stop thinking about other reasons which lead me to the point of critical thinking. Every person should be asked to think critically about one topic. There shouldn’t be just one opinion which changes the viewpoint of the others. Even more, it is important that one thinks about the given facts to form or renew his or her own. What would a world be like if there was only one perspective? People were literally bored and there wouldn´t be any excitement in our lives.
Furthermore, who is really interested in a reporter´s opinion who is not widely known? This is related to the news value “prominence”. Reader´s might be interested in a journalist´s opinion in case he or she was popular in our society. Prominent people don´t seem to be only one in a million and others often look up to them. They want to know what they are thinking and were even more likely to change their own to be just a bit like they are.
As I´ve noticed, there are lots of factors which come together and that are reasons for leaving the own opinion out of news stories. Journalists have the opportunity to avoid stating it and also that objectivity comes first. Try to make the audience think critically and help them to think over their current viewpoint by telling them the truth through facts.
Add a comment October 20, 2011
The highlight of the day
Today, in my journalism class, we were lucky that we had the opportunity to welcome the guest speaker Holly Edgell, an experienced journalist.
She told us lots of interesting things and I was very curious because I knew that we could learn a lot from her. Also, I immediately saw that we have common interests. Not only that we both decided to be active as a journalist, we also both like to travel so that I could identify myself with her right away.
RebeccaAcoustic, flickr
In the beginning, we were informed about her earlier career. Mrs. Edgell started working in the journalism area in 1991, right after she graduated from college in 1990. She was majoring in newspaper journalism because she simply loved to write. She couldn´t imagine herself being in television. For her, this part of the media was for celebrities. She, on the other hand, just wanted to write her words and thoughts on a piece of paper.
Hamed Saber, flickr
However, it didn´t take long until she made a radio internship. She noticed that writing for a newspaper was not the only thing she liked, but she wanted to pick either the radio, or the newspaper.
Andrew @cubagallery #photography #Lightroom, flickr
Later the days, she, what is very ironically, ended up working as a television news producer. These days, on the other hand, she considers herself a multimedia journalist. She explained to us that nowadays, everyone needs to function in every kind of media, even though you don´t need to be genius in every single area. As we all know, nobody is perfect!
Holly Edgell continued stating that she was working as a professor at Mizzou and that she is now working for Patch. It is a network which provides information about events, places, news, and even more in different areas. People from local cities have the chance to blog or just share any thought they have. The fact that it is a voluntary activity makes it to an entertaining hobby because there are no deadlines a blog is due, and people can share their words whenever they feel like telling something.
Equally important to know about Patch is that the page changes all the time. This is such as other web pages. Top stories always vary and different events occur during the time. Very interesting is that everyone can leave comments on the site and are also able to publish upcoming events.
In January, Patch exists since three years and for St. Louis it is one year. Everything started at the East Coast. Today, 900 cities in the United States use the network, 25 of them are located in Missouri. Interesting for us people living in St. Louis is that Missouri was the second state in the USA which used Patch.
In whole, her presentation was a success. As I have observed, everyone seemed to be very attentive and interested and Mrs. Edgell did a very good job in informing us about a topic that concerns us all.
Add a comment October 12, 2011
In what extent are ethics related to reporters?
Generally, thinking ethically is one of the most important abilities a reporter should be aware of. When I started thinking about this topic, the “Golden Rule”, which says that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you, immediately came to my mind. However, I came to the conclusion that it is not possible to be completely considerate of this wise ethical statement. Even more, it seems to be a great challenge. Following the rule means reporting only positive aspects about one person, but what makes a story interesting? Isn´t it most of the time the cruel, unusual stories and scandals that gets the reader´s attention? Wouldn´t a journalist who follows this rule lose a majority of readers?
How should a good journalist really behave then? My opinion is that a reporter does a good job when he or she keeps the “Golden Rule” in mind to a certain degree. It is obvious, that it is inappropriate to use hate speech in an article or just tell false facts just to make a story sound more interesting. A reporter who doesn´t exaggerate blaming someone, and who doesn´t harm anybody in an extremely way, is a person who keeps at least the “Golden Rule” in mind and shows ethical behavior.
However, there is more than the “Golden Rule” a reporter has to think about. Have you ever cogitated about the fact that various people consider different behaviors as morally correct or incorrect? What is the impact of your article on a person with totally contrary viewpoints? A reporter shouldn´t worry too much about this aspect, otherwise it is almost impossible to publish a story for the reason that there are always people out there with other opinions.
Very important to note though, is the aspect that journalists have to tell the truth to avoid a disappointment of the readers and the loss of their trust. What sense have news when they are just made up? Also, the way you work before publishing the story is a sophisticated process. A journalist has to prepare for an interview and think about the right questions to ask. What might be too personal? What question could bring the interviewed one into an uncomfortable situation? Furthermore, there are reporters who claim to be your friend so that they get more detailed, and for the readers interesting and profound information. This is not what successful reporters act like and it might be a sign that this person made the wrong decision in choosing a career.
In whole, it is sometimes a tough job for journalists to keep ethics in mind when they try to get a good story. Anyhow, what makes a brilliant reporter is one who gets valuable information through morally correct strategies. It is a challenging task every approaching day but this is what most reporters like about it. Being a reporter means taking a challenge.
Watch this if you want to learn more about Journalism Ethics
1 comment October 5, 2011
Beat Reporter versus General Assignment Writer
Lots of journalists decide to become a beat reporter. However, it is a controversial subject. Many reporters want to keep the variety of their loved job without confining it in any way. This is what makes their life interesting; this is what they always wanted to be! It is important to know that both jobs have positive aspects, no matter what decision you make.
Beat Reporters specialize in one specific topic. This is a great option for people who have a strong fondness for something. It is not unusual that you meet someone who is talking about one thing all the time. You are asking yourself when this finally stops but it won´t! This is an example for somebody who would fit perfectly into the job of a beat reporter. That person gets to know people with the same interests who like to share the passion with you. Also, this is a great chance to become high esteemed and professional in the area you chose. Lots of readers like to hear from beat reporters because it gives them certainty of the content and they trust in what is being said. Also, I think that beat reporters are more likely to make their hobby to their job than general assignment reporters. Even though the occupation as a journalist is generally known to be also a hobby, it might be the case that they are more enthusiastic than others for the reason that there is never the risk that they have to write or report about a story they don´t like.
How to get to know sources of a beat
General assignment reporters, on the other hand, have a lot of variety in their job. Every day will start with a totally new story and I think there is barely anyone who will affirm that their job was boring. Generally, I guess that it is a real challenge and that it asks for a lot of creativity.Not only that you have to write and talk in completely different ways while working in various situations, you literally have to adapt to the situation in an emotional way. How do you have to behave when you have to report about a funeral? What do some experiences change in your mind and soul? It is not always good and funny things to talk about, there is the possibility that one story has a striking effect on your life. Most exciting is that you never know what story will come next. It is a risk; it is a challenge, but that´s what many people like about it.
This topic is and will always be a topic to think about. Each of these professions has their benefits. I think employers also have a hard time deciding what kind of reporter to take. The one who knows a lot about one specific subject or the one who can be appointed anywhere? It is your decision what you want to be!
Add a comment October 3, 2011
The six news values
Every prospective journalist heard about the six news values which are proximity, prominence, timeliness, impact, conflict, and human interest. I decided to explore the internet and find articles that fit these values to make them more understandable.
Proximity:
The article “St. Charles County woman killed in O´Fallon” talks about a woman, Theresa Moore, who died during a car crash on Highway K in O´Fallon. It happened on Friday, the 23rd of September, when she hit another car by driving to another lane. The fact that it happened just a few days ago allows me to relate it also to the news value “timeliness” which I will explain later on. Because of the spinning of her car, she affected other traffic participants which have to be brought to the hospital.
This article shows the news value of “proximity” because it was published for people of the surrounding area. It is important for people who live nearby to know that the streets were closed for a specific period of time because they are the ones that are affected by that. I do not think that this article would be published in newspapers that are sold in cities that are far away because there might be other car crashes that have a higher effect on them.
Timeliness:
For the news value “timeliness” I chose the article “An Oktoberfest Tour of “Little Germany””. The text tells the reader about a specific part in New York which is called “Little Germany”. It is an area where they sell, for instance, German food and where lots of Germans lived between 1850 and 1880. It describes the whole atmosphere there and points out the Oktoberfest people can attend without taking the long hour flight to Bavaria upon oneself.
I think this is a great article for this news value because it is Oktoberfest right now. It is a current event which nobody who wants to experience the German culture should miss. Furthermore, a hint that it is the “timeliness” news value is our knowledge that it is a seasonal happening.
Impact:
I considered the article “Hurricane Irene: 8 Known Dead, 2 Million Without Power” as a striking article for “impact”. It informs the reader about what the disaster caused. People died, even more were injured, many flights were cancelled and reason for lots of car crashes was the heavy rain.
In my opinion, this article clearly demonstrates the impact of Hurricane Irene on the reader. People worry about their family and friends; they need to handle the situation. The whole nation has to support each other. Travelers had to worry about how to arrive safely at their destination and if it was even possible. Their thoughts were also how to inform their relatives without causing panic. Everyone on the streets had to drive carefully, or had to try not to leave the house. All these examples show the great impact on our society.
Prominence:
The next news value I would like to talk about is “prominence”. For this, I took the article “Charlie Sheen makes peace with “Two and a Half Men””. It gives the information that the differences which appeared because of his quitting in the series are settled now and it also lets the reader know what happened before.
For me, this is a typical case for the “prominence” news value. Charlie Sheen is a wide known man about whom people currently talk. The scandal that he had to leave “Two and a Half Men” was reason for him to be in the public´s mouth. Even though this story contains a relevant topic, it is often talked about prominent people without any reason.
Conflict:
As “conflict” news value I picked the article “The Marriage Ideal”. It is not an article where two parties cause a discussion by stating their opinion. Even more, it is one author who gives his position on the topic and explains why he does not understand if others have a different point of view. I thought might also be considered as a conflict, because he is telling about the many discussions there are about this theme. The author himself accepts gay marriages and defines why other explanations do not make sense to him.
As already mentioned, I see a conflict all the time when there are two opposite opinions. This article does not show a specific opponent, but the author is talking about all the opponent´s statements so that I chose this as my “conflict” news value.
Human Interest:
“Australian crocodile turns himself orange” is the report with which I will explain the news value “human interest”. It is about a crocodile that changed its color to orange. After thinking that the animal was sick, it turned out that it might have been the pH level that increased. The owner was very enthusiastic about the color change in the end but it is supposed to go back to the natural color soon.
This is an article that immediately jumped into my mind as an example for “human interest” which is most of the time an unusual story that seems funny or strange to a person. I am quite sure that this one would catch most reader´s eyes for at least a short time. It is nothing you read everyday which makes it interesting to the reader.
1 comment September 28, 2011
What if…?
9/11 is a date everyone remembers. It is known all over the world because of what happened ten years ago. Who cannot remember what they did to the time they heard about the attack? Every year it is a new striking topic in the news and social networks are platforms where people share their thoughts about it. To the time when the Twin Towers were attacked, facebook, twitter, and most other social networks did not even exist. How could their lives be different when there had been media like this? How did people communicate while telephone networks broke down?
Today, any kind of information travels around the world in seconds. It can be in Europe in one second and the next second, or even to the same time, in Africa. People have to click one button to send their own statements to the whole world. Ten years ago, they had reporters who had to inform the whole world and there were less communication opportunities in the web. So how could it have been different when there had been social networks in the past?
Most important is the breakdown of telephone networks when the news about the attack was send out to the world. Everyone tried to reach their family members to make sure that they were safe. Panic and anxiety dispread for the reason that communication was impossible, especially in New York City. Could it have been possible for facebook and twitter to change the horrible situation? Or would it have been the same and this connection would also have been broken down? In every case, people could have talked better about their feelings, thoughts, and fears afterwards. They could have easily announced who they missed so that they could have increased the chance to find a missing person and the exchange of warm words and mutual understanding could have improved the tough situation they had to live with.
While talking about communication between people who share the same fate, it comes to my mind that it would have solved lots of psychological problems. Of course, people were literally psychologically affected by the attack. They did not know how to handle the situation. Talking to people who suffer from the same disaster could have made them feel understood. They would have known that they were not alone, even though it was obvious that not even the nation, also the whole world was affected.
After saying this, I also need to point out a negative aspect about social networks in the web. Nowadays, it is not a secret anymore that the web is not a reliable and serious source. It could have been a second disaster if people did not tell the truth about the facts. It might have been possible that random people were announced to be dead, even though they were still alive. You can never be sure if all the information on the internet represents the truth and the worried ones would have needed to live with the uncertainty.
As explained, there would have been many differences if there had been social networks in the past. It is controversial if it had been better or worse. I think it would have helped concerned people in many ways but it will always be just an assumption.
CLICK HERE if you would like to watch a short video about 9-11, a striking part of our history! This one really touches my heart.
1 comment September 13, 2011
An event which is not as bad as another one can still be a bad one
In Journalism class we were talking about Hurricane „Irene“ for a moment. Did the news media over-hype the disaster? Was it even a disaster? What came first to my mind was “No, of course not!” and I still have the opinion that my first impression was right. After thinking about the question a little further, on the other hand, I understood why some people have different opinions about that topic and I would like to talk about my thoughts in the following paragraphs.
As I have already mentioned, I totally disagreed with the idea of over-hyping the anticipation of the hurricane. Even though most parts of the East Coast weren´t as much affected as people thought they would be, there are still lots of places which are close to the ocean that ended up in disastrous conditions. I have the impression that most people only consider something as “horrible incident” when it has a direct influence on their lives. They don´t see the danger when something happens some hours away. It has to happen right in front their doors or their loved ones have to be affected so that they care about it. For me, all natural catastrophes that occur throughout the world, are touching my heart. Not that I am always affected by them, quite the contrary, there are barely disasters in Germany, the country where I am from. All these news are shocking me and I feel so blessed that I used to live in a country where I could live safe. We don´t really have to worry about things like that but most people care and are notably concerned.
Despite what I just said, I totally understand opposite opinions. News announced “Irene”, people were scared, they had a terrible time because they were thinking about the last hurricanes and its damages that appeared. But isn´t it even more important to say that the media made people preparing themselves for what should come soon? Even though not everyone was as much affected as they were supposed to be referring to the news, they knew what could have happened and they had the chance to protect themselves, no matter what was really going on in the end. I, personally, prefer over-hyped information. Just understating upcoming happenings can cause even bigger consequences because it makes people underestimating a situation and in the end, they complain about deficient information and help.
To sum up, my opinion is that it is better for everyone to over-hype a bit than making the population feel safe but actually they aren´t. In the end, there might be complaints but people shouldn´t care about over-hyped news, they should be thankful that they weren´t affected that much. Maybe their reactions are just the fear which still lives inside of them. A misfortune like that is not easy to forget and people still have the terrible disasters from the past in mind. They probably just show their relief by attaching blame. I think most important to know is that an event which is not as bad as another one can still be a bad one with striking consequences.
2 comments September 10, 2011
