News

[prog]

Why is Google News not just the first but so far the only place I've heard anything about the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Djindjic? Granted, that means the story hasn't gotten enough NPR-play that I've noticed, but still, sheesh...

Also: Is there a non-cynical answer to the question about why the Elizabeth Smart story got big news, apparently starting with the girl's disappearance? It's certainly a happy thing to hear (and I'm made happier to hear that others are happy too), but I'd think that child kidnapping, and sometimes subsequent recovery, happens often enough around the country that a case involving otherwise unknown people shouldn't make national headlines. Of course, now it's interesting because there's a mutant religious nut involved and everyone loves to hear about that, but he didn't come into the story until just recently, right? (And I grant that I could be wrong about the Smart family being somehow famous before this... maybe I missed something.)

Comments

[leahleaf.livejournal.com]

i don't know dude, i listen to npr 95% of the time and they were leading off every 'top news' bit with the fact that he had been assassinated, all wednesday. and yesterday afternoon (or maybe morning) they had a fairly lengthy interview bit with at least one expert/resident journalist addressing the subject and the ramifications.

and regarding the elizabeth smart doodad, i think statistically most abductions of children are perpetrated by relatives (ie ex-husbands) and/or are unsolved, so this was unusual on both counts. and their prime suspects kept not panning out/dying, and there have all along been allegations of police mishandling on a fairly grand scale. also the smart family has really sort of taken a pro-media stance, they held press conferences daily last summer and have been lobbying congress heavily regarding the amber alert. so they're sort of courting the media. so.