Posted by: Jon Henke on Tuesday, November 06, 2007 One problem with the media is that it tends to only report on the seen - the visible consequences, rather than the secondary effects and the foregone effects. For instance, the New York Times writes a story on critics claims that the rebuilding process is too slow, inflexible, valuing "perfect paperwork over speedy resolutions". While the Times gives space to Federal workers to present their side of the story, the piece itself is replete with examples of hardships in Louisiana, making the tone of the story very sympathetic to the State interests rather than the Federal interests. That's a problem. Had the State interests gotten their way on the process, the New York Times would be writing a story today on FEMA's waste and mis-management in Louisiana. FEMA officials would be given space to defend themselves, but the story would be full of visible examples of wasted money, lack of rigorous oversight and unnecessary projects. The New York Times, or any media outlet, is perfectly capable of observing the visible story, but the visible is only half the story. Readers come away with sympathy for the current hardships, but there is no space given to the foregone consequences, to the problems that didn't happen. I'm not sure how that problem can be fixed - or if it can be fixed at all - but it's a problem the media should give more thought. Readers are done a disservice when the media delves into human drama for the cheap sympathy points, rather than explaining the more complicated background, and it leads to an overemphasis on the visible versus the invisible. |
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