Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Covering Hurricane Katrina....Scope

Often times the search by televsion news outlets for a big story, the need for a big story, the want for a big story causes some little bitty, not so big stories to be(not to use a pun...) blown out of the water.

Not in this case I don't believe. As a matter of fact, it may be just the opposite.

On ABC's Nightline at about midnight, ABC correspondent David Kerley said something in a taped look live that cuts to the very core of how we go about covering news at TV journalists.

"Often I think television focuses in on something and makes it much bigger than it is. This is so big that we can't really give you the scope of it. Television
doesn't do justice to what has happened here on the Gulf Coast."


The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, much like Hurricane Floyd here in NC in 1999, but on a much larger scale, is a huge event of historical proportions, but all of the media, TV, Web, Blog, Podcast, etc...coverage in the world isn't going to scratch the surface of what has happened on the Gulf Coast.

2 comments:

sapphoto said...

I couldn't agree with you more. I was watching the same show and thought the same thing. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the coverage. I don't have any news channels on my cable and I was off from work, so I couldn't see anything of any coverage. I know it's a simple trick but I liked the way Bury intro'd his piece. He said that they couldn't cover the whole thing so they would just focus on this one street. I thought it gave the story great impact.

It all just really makes most of the thing I have to go through seem insignificant.

Anonymous said...

I agree Weaver, I watched Nightline and got many questions answered in 5 minutes into the show with interviews then some reharshed packages and some new facts on cable news