Are plane crashes news?
Can anyone tell me why an entire news cycle was taken up by the crash of a plane full of tourists? Of course it’s a tragedy for the dead and their families, but once terrorism was ruled out early on, why was it the headline for the day and the lead story every hour on the radio news?
Slow news day? Yeah, except for a probe about to land on another planet. And Afghanistan on the verge of giving itself a constitution. And the New York Times claiming that Pakistan is the hub of the international traffic in the requisites for making nukes. And the Office of Management and Budget reporting that the new budget is going to halve the deficit in five years by cutting healthcare for veterans, job programs, housing vouchers and biomedical research. And a long-time Democratic representative switching parties because his district was repeatedly denied funds because he was a Democrat.
What does a plane crash tell me about my world? Why do the media think that it warrants my attention the way that, say, a Malaysian bus plunge doesn’t? Why does a plane crash matter?
(Note: 24 people died in traffic accidents in George over the long Christmas holiday weekend.)
Catherine Seip awards her own Dubious Achievements to the media. (Thanks to kausfiles for the link.)
Lisa Williams – four days away from giving birth – comments on this entry and points to a few sources of statistical information: the Statistical Abstract of the United States, the American Fact Finder, and A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper. She writes:
People get all worked up about welfare when it is a tiny percentage of each tax dollar; all that fuss about the NEA? We spend more on military bands.
Happy upcoming birthday, Lisa!
You bring up an excellent point. The plane crash is a tragedy, but the newsmedia covers it because it is death in bulk. This kind of coverage leads people to have a dramatically distorted sense of their own risks. They think flying in a plane is risky — when in fact you are more likely to die in your bathtub. Driving is the most risky thing people routinely do — nearly as many Americans die each year in car accidents as died during the entire nine year slog of the Vietnam War (which was 58,000 Americans). We could build and inscribe a new Vietnam Wall EVERY YEAR with automobile casualties, just to give a visual sense of scale.
Most people die of pretty predictable things that they share with other people, and the risk factors are well-known — diet, smoking, aggressive driving. But to watch the news you’d think you were about to be felled by radon gas in your basement or mad cow.
The same situation prevails with information about money and taxes. People get all worked up about welfare when it is a tiny percentage of each tax dollar; all that fuss about the NEA? We spend more on military bands.
What I would like to see is each story in the news accompanied by a small pie chart. If it’s a story about someone’s death, show what percentage of all people die of the same cause. If it’s a story about taxes, show what percent of the federal budget that expenditure takes up, along with the cost per annum for each taxpayer.
I love the military bands point! Great fact or factoid :)
Even more news bandwidth is wasted on things like individual black men who are accused of crimes (OJ, Jacko, and Kobe come to mind) and individual pretty white women who are victims of crimes and whose stories are over (Laci Peterson).
Why should he care?
David wonders why a foreign plane crash is top news, especially when it was caused by mechanical failure and involved only, well, foreigners? What does…
Thanks, David! I highly recommend the Statistical Abstract just for the sheer weirdness of some of the things that the feds collect info on. Best bathroom reading ever!
Yes, yes, yes! Wouldn’t it be great if the headlines covered stuff with more than a day or two of shelf life? I’ve stopped watching TV News unless the Web alerts me that something’s up that impacts me right now. I’m becoming much more selective about reading the New York Times, making microsecond choices on what to skip over. Last Sunday’s Times was blah; I did it in about 20 minutes. The news is fashioned for the amygdala. SHOCK! value.
I think that insted of all ur bolonga the world should be made of cheese, any comments, disagreemesnt?? then SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN. mwahahaha! you will some day bow at my feet! now F off and get lost! scram!! shoo i say!!
Are you people idiots? Of course a plane crash is news. It is NEWSWORTHY! A disaster (of any kind) contains the five elements of news. If you do not like the way stories are reported, change the channel. The fact of the matter is, most plane crashes are the result of pilot error or maintenance oversights. I believe that affects each of us. That is why it is important.
Jason, please refrain on this site from calling people you disagree with “idiots.” Thank you.
i am look for a plane crash that happed in oct. the day i thack it happed was 28-30 help me.
Garrett morris you should take some English lessons