So, CNN has "5 things you need to know today." One of the stories is:
"At least 21 children and two teachers were killed when a fire broke out at a school in Kuala Lumpur. Witnesses reported hearing cries for help from inside the burning building and seeing children unable to escape because of metal grills on windows. Renovations to the building had reportedly blocked a fire exit. Officials are examining whether an electric short circuit caused the fire."
Ask yourself, where is Kuala Lumpur? You probably don't even know, so why is this news in the US? And why is it one of five things you NEED to know today?
Perhaps for the same reason this is a top story?
Irma's aftermath
Investigations launched after Florida nursing home deaths
What do these victims have in common with the kids from the other story? And also with the child in this story?Boy falls into a volcanic crater in Italy
Meanwhile, over at Fox News, these are two of the top stories today. Each has other stories "linked" ot it, even though the other stories are in no way related!
DISTURBING MESSAGE
TRAGIC DISCOVERY
I believe that the fire story and the Irma story as similar relating to death. The first story is not located in the United States but is use to emphasis the deaths of the Irma victims. I believe that is is because of the formula spoken about in class. This time the focused out of the country then a local story. Then it filters back to crime with the missing teacher.
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting that CNN thinks this is information we NEED to know. They all have a common theme of death and/or vulnerable victims. We learned in class these are very common types of stories to cover in the media. Some examples of vulnerable victims used are old people, women, and children. Also we talked in class about the concept of linkage the media uses. In this article, CNN is trying to link these stories together like they are related. They are not related at all...just similar in nature.
ReplyDeleteIt is kind of sad how obvious and distorted the idea of linkage is now that I have learned about it. These stories are in no way related to each other, the only things they even have in common is death. The fact that they are NEED TO KNOW stories is just a way to make people focus on all of the horrible street crimes we need to be afraid of. None of this is need to know because none of it is information that pertains to our lives, and it is definitely not urgent news. The news is linking these stories together, all under the broad category of death.
ReplyDeleteThese need to know things are irrelevant news that sells and thats why they do it. They should instead title it "5 things we know we'll get you to click on". The relation between the two stories is that something violent and horrific happened to people that we consider vulnerable and weak therefore in need of our protection, so when something like this happens it tugs on the publics heart strings. As far as fox's stories the last ones are related, they are related in the aspect that all three result in a someone dying and knowing the individual that allegedly caused it and the top three are all related through some form racism.
ReplyDeleteThe headlines linked together about Irma and the volcanic crater in Italy are probably linked together because they are both environmental/ nature events causing deaths. A hurricane picture of a nursing home is being investigated but then a boy falls into a volcanic crater are not similar events, yet they are linked together. Then to link a missing pregnant teacher dead to other death subjects share the same outcome, but yet are not related to each other at all. Since the audience today is really into these kind of subjects, it is obvious that the news sites are positing the links together so they can get more views.
ReplyDeleteIn class we talked about media likes to link stories to together. In the case of the fire and Irma are disastrous that cost lives. Each of the events were tragic and had to deal with some type of violence or loss of life. With the lynching video, the media tries to find things that could be consider racist and make it more controversial then it actually is.
ReplyDeleteThe three stories can all be linked together because there is death involved. The loose linkage here goes to show that there are no real guidelines as to what stories get linked to other stories as long as one thing about them are semi-related.
ReplyDelete