How Not To Cover a Disaster
Six things the media really has to stop doing while on the disaster beat.
Disasters happen and reporting them is essential, but there’s always that dead air — when nothing more is happening and we’re awaiting more news. That’s when the dread ‘human interest’ stories fill the time, the reporters turning from the real story to look for victims who will try to answer the unanswerable questions: “How did you feel?” “What went through your head?” “Did you think you would ever see your family again?”
The injured — many of them still traumatized, still hurting, still trying to figure out where they are and what happened — are forced to face a camera pointed at their faces, a microphone held at arm’s length to catch their every word, their every sob.
I think I can safely say that for that one person out of a hundred who wants to see bloodied heads and terrified kids and TV personalities asking how the victims are feeling, there are 99 of us who don’t.
So here is my short list of disaster mistakes those pros might want to avoid if they want to remain professionals and not be seen forevermore as shameless hacks — starting with the least egregious:
- 1. If it’s a hurricane, a blizzard or a tornado, do not allow yourself to be talked into standing out in the…
