The used to be a saying, "If it bleeds it leads." (on the front page). The new saying is, "Hyping an act of terror is never in error." This, despite the fact that crimes motivated by politics (terrorism) are almost the least likely, of all possible crimes, to harm a citizen. The manufactured hysteria over terrorism serves many masters but never the civil liberties or the pocketbooks of American citizens.
6
Editors on Edge in a Changed World; give terrorist exactly what they want including oblique glorification. We never read about deranged cowards which is who terrorist are.
3
I love reading about behind the scenes activities like this. The insight to modern media and reporting helps give the reader some perspective about what modern journalism is about.
8
A fascinating insight on the pavlovian response terrorist organizations have managed to elicit from journalists. We live in a world where more people die in traffic accidents, heat waves, pedestrian deaths, and homicides than in terror attacks (rates per Politico Europe). In America, more people die, according to Vox, from combustible clothing than from terror attacks. Rightly, none of these are front page news.
As the sophistication and death toll of terror attacks continue to decline due to increasingly effective gorvernmental interdiction, our collective sensitivity to such attacks has increased, as if to compensate.
It's in the interest of terrorist organizations that they keep getting such publicity. Governments, while they may take the heat when their voters feel at risk of terrorist attack (while not caring as much about deadlier traffic accidents), get easy justification for necessary anti-terror spending. News organizations get their click- throughs, while news readers get titillated in a way they never do by heat waves or cancer bills.
It's the self-perpetuating new normal, always ready to take over the front page with a banner of fear and solidarity.
And if an event turns out to be a bigger killer, like a vehicle pile-up, then we all feel ok ignoring it, and breathing a sigh of relief: the black swan, as she is wont to do, stayed away. Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
As the sophistication and death toll of terror attacks continue to decline due to increasingly effective gorvernmental interdiction, our collective sensitivity to such attacks has increased, as if to compensate.
It's in the interest of terrorist organizations that they keep getting such publicity. Governments, while they may take the heat when their voters feel at risk of terrorist attack (while not caring as much about deadlier traffic accidents), get easy justification for necessary anti-terror spending. News organizations get their click- throughs, while news readers get titillated in a way they never do by heat waves or cancer bills.
It's the self-perpetuating new normal, always ready to take over the front page with a banner of fear and solidarity.
And if an event turns out to be a bigger killer, like a vehicle pile-up, then we all feel ok ignoring it, and breathing a sigh of relief: the black swan, as she is wont to do, stayed away. Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
11
Oh, please. You'd rather be NBC News lead anchor Tom Brokaw, out of touch for 12 hours on the holiday weekend when Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a traffic accident? And could not be located?
That said, this is a bit overdone. Again, NYTimes appears to need experienced street police reporters. They know police scanners, which ring non-stop.
They know that there is an "art" to listening to police scanner audio -- which most desk-bound editors never take the time to develop. Thus, a sea of false "fire drills."
That said, this is a bit overdone. Again, NYTimes appears to need experienced street police reporters. They know police scanners, which ring non-stop.
They know that there is an "art" to listening to police scanner audio -- which most desk-bound editors never take the time to develop. Thus, a sea of false "fire drills."
1
fascinating.
thanks for the insight into how the NYTimes is made....or not.
thanks for the insight into how the NYTimes is made....or not.
4
I feel the Times does a great service to all its readers by giving us inside looks such as this. I certainly appreciate the work of the staff of the paper evern more. Thank you.
7
I thank each NYT employee for the outstanding professional job they do. The New York Times is number one!
5
No mention of the multitude of terrorists plowing into civilians in Israel.
I wish that editors weren't so quick to cover terrorist events. That's what the terrorists want, they carry out attacks so they can see themselves in the news, feeding their egos and their followers with their bravado and mission ideology. Who knows, it just might make a difference if news media backed off this idea that the news has to be reported, esp reported immediately and on the front page. (Yes, I realize these stories get attention, and reporting quickly is how newspapers make money, but you're colluding essentially with terrorist demands.) What would happen if these terrorist groups didn't get covered by all the media all the time? Why is it necessary to get these reports out asap anyway? Are you liable?
5
Does that include the traitor Edward Snowden, who dumped the most-secret CIA records to Moscow, Beijing, and Havana?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/black-budget-summ...
IMHO, yes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/black-budget-summ...
IMHO, yes.
I find that the media is often a handmaiden to base hysteria, and seems to be end propping up backward looking governments and all the mentally deranged in search of an audience. you broadcast shock . It seems to be about scaring people, not educating them. What to do? Yes bathtubs and cars are actually much more dangerous, but that isn't "news", neither is low wages or plastic in the oceans or drugs. The thing is, what should be done? Are people already turning off the press because what we get is a National Enquirer world with a tweeting fool in charge?
5
Seems there is always a reader who would rather not be informed?
We are what chose to believe is the latest crisis and yet how much is on t he menu and how resolution are worthy in stages and for historical record is paramount to the New York Times - we are dependent of the superior judgments and contextual narrative that will impact our need for sharing the collective justice and that's great ... I am never disappointed and never of edge to know what is fit to read, ever.....
jja Manhattan, N.Y.