Kyron Horman story "over-reported"

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Kat010

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The Willamette Weekly has a new article about Project Censored. They've also added a list of what the writer considers to be the top 5 over-reported local stories of 2010.

Here's a clip of what they said about the Kyron Horman case: "Here’s what every reporter in town has been thinking for nearly four months but won’t write: “We’ve spent a million dollars and countless reams of media attention on a missing child and his freak-show family while we ignore Oregon’s other children and their desperate families,...." (clip)

http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3647/14557/

They also have choice words for Nancy Grace.

Please note: by bringing this link to the discussion I am not expressing an opinon.
 
Well that tears it. They are officially off the team.
 
Here's the full quote:

“We’ve spent a million dollars and countless reams of media attention on a missing child and his freak-show family while we ignore Oregon’s other children and their desperate families, because people would rather watch a soap opera about one very sad misfortune than think about systemic problems that have no easy solutions.”

This is information copy/pasted from a news article, not my opinion.
 
Calliope said:
Well that tears it. They are officially off the team.
Click to expand...

:floorlaugh:


Ahem. <picking myself up off the floor>

Back to business:

I have to disagree. There is no way to "over-report" about a missing child. And aren't they "over-reporting" with this report? :snooty:
 
BeanE said:
Here's the full quote:

“We’ve spent a million dollars and countless reams of media attention on a missing child and his freak-show family while we ignore Oregon’s other children and their desperate families, because people would rather watch a soap opera about one very sad misfortune than think about systemic problems that have no easy solutions.”
Click to expand...

Why haven't they covered the other missing children then? MY GOSH, this is hypocritical to me! :angel:

(Not you BeanE, the report from WW).
 
I believe the emphasis is that there were so many hours and column inches and dollars spent on ONE child.......we don't hear about the others, we don't see the efforts for them, we don't read about them.....the point is valid. Why ONE child over many? Why THIS child over another?

How to choose. The Judgment of Solomon. :(
 
debs said:
I believe the emphasis is that there were so many hours and column inches and dollars spent on ONE child.......we don't hear about the others, we don't see the efforts for them, we don't read about them.....the point is valid. Why ONE child over many? Why THIS child over another?

How to choose. The Judgment of Solomon. :(
Click to expand...

Exactly! And this is what I have to ask WW. Have THEY been reporting on this other missing persons? Maybe they have?
 
The media makes money off stories that will bring them readers and viewers. Something happens in the public where it latches on to THIS story, not THAT story, and the media buys into it. Kimster, I think you're absolutely correct that WW could have reported on all the other children. But Project Censored is just another story they're reporting on.

I guess there is a world where a website would be dedicated to the lost and missing. Thanks, WS.....for being here to discuss even those cases that don't make it into the general population's media pool.
 
I have three words for this thread and I think it helps to manifest what we are all thinking...DANTE'S CAVE PARABLE...

We the participating audience are simply trusting in the shadows presented on the wall before us as the mechanics take shape from behind. LE supplies the kindling for the fuel and the Media puts the fan to the flame, controlling its brilliance and flicker to tell the intended "story"...if noone has read it, it's a must.:twocents:
 
I always find it strange when the media complains about the media. I've seen plenty of articles asking why one child gets more media coverage than another but the same media outlet that is complaining, will never put the other lesser known child on the cover, will never do countless stories on them, etc. The only place they'll mention the other children is in an article about why they don't get media coverage. If the media really cared about the disparity in coverage, they would report on other missing children too.

It's like when they 20/20 did a program about "pretty white women syndrome." Have they ever dedicated an entire program after that for a black woman or child? How many programs have they done for Laci, JonBenet, and Natalee? It seems very hypocritical.
 
32beatspersecond said:
I have three words for this thread and I think it helps to manifest what we are all thinking...DANTE'S CAVE PARABLE...

We the participating audience are simply trusting in the shadows presented on the wall before us as the mechanics take shape from behind. LE supplies the kindling for the fuel and the Media puts the fan to the flame, controlling its brilliance and flicker to tell the intended "story"...if noone has read it, it's a must.:twocents:
Click to expand...

Dante discussed how we are punished for allowing this blindness (sin). Plato discusses our ignorance (not knowing they're shadows) and information (knowing they're shadows and that there is a source that causes the shadows [sun shining through highlighting the real people staring at their own shadows on the wall]).

Dante wants us to know that there is a hierarchy, and it's up to you to determine which level you're on and no one really cares, since it's all about them and self-discovery. Plato shows us that through education and wisdom, one can crawl from ignorance into knowledge. If one can do it, then others can follow behind, etc. The problem is, we all seem to want to look at our own shadows on the wall and never see the wall, or those other shadows, and rarely do we turn around to see the way to truth.

Interesting, thanks for making me think!!!!
 
"... because people would rather watch a soap opera about one very sad misfortune than think about systemic problems that have no easy solutions.”

I think its the systemic problems issues that is at the heart of Mesh's criticism.

The Horman case appears to me to be a real mystery and is apart from all the other missing children. Not too many kids go to school and then just go POOF!!! Regular missing children are very much a dime a dozen. On the lists of the Oregon missing people, obviously, some of those people have been missing for 30 or more years! And, of the more recent ones, alot are people who have possibly run away, or have been taken away by a parent. Not too many listed as stranger abductions.

So, if we look at the others we would need to look at why do people run away? Why do parents use the children to get back at their spouses? Why can't our investigative systems find these people? Just my opinion.

Personally, I am interested in mysteries, I am not that interested in missing persons.
 
snip: while we ignore Oregon&#8217;s other children and their desperate families, because people would rather watch a soap opera about one very sad misfortune than think about systemic problems that have no easy solutions.

Remember, this is an assessment of the most over-reported LOCAL stories.

I do think the paper has a point. The locals are very upset and practically begging for more information. There is little information forthcoming, and very little substantiated information to begin with.

What I took out of this is that reporters are being asked to go everywhere the family might be, LE might be, anywhere to gather new information on this one story. This takes up resources. Then, a writer must try to put a new spin or twist on a story with no definitive new information. All this takes time, money, and paper. The locals keep clamoring for more because they care about Kyron.

I wonder if the paper is wishing they could keep Kyron's banner, but put the reporters on to some other projects. The "systemic problems that have no easy solutions"- the poor without healthcare, the high levels of child *advertiser censored* going through the city and ways to stop it, ways that mothers could get help who feel helpless or need sitting services to find/sustain a job until their child is old enough , etc.

I think the reporters are simply tired of running around finding nothing new when they feel their resources would be better used elsewhere.

Yes it is a HARSH op-ed, but there are some valid points.

MOO.
 
Kimster said:
And aren't they "over-reporting" with this report? :snooty:
Click to expand...

:) SBM. It's like Facebook peeps posting on their walls "I hate drama, so-and-so causes so much drama and it is so dumb. Drama this, drama that."

They themselves are being dramatic and causing more drama.... :angel:
 
tragco said:
snip: while we ignore Oregon’s other children and their desperate families, because people would rather watch a soap opera about one very sad misfortune than think about systemic problems that have no easy solutions.

Remember, this is an assessment of the most over-reported LOCAL stories.

I do think the paper has a point. The locals are very upset and practically begging for more information. There is little information forthcoming, and very little substantiated information to begin with.

What I took out of this is that reporters are being asked to go everywhere the family might be, LE might be, anywhere to gather new information on this one story. This takes up resources. Then, a writer must try to put a new spin or twist on a story with no definitive new information. All this takes time, money, and paper. The locals keep clamoring for more because they care about Kyron.

I wonder if the paper is wishing they could keep Kyron's banner, but put the reporters on to some other projects. The "systemic problems that have no easy solutions"- the poor without healthcare, the high levels of child *advertiser censored* going through the city and ways to stop it, ways that mothers could get help who feel helpless or need sitting services to find/sustain a job until their child is old enough , etc.

I think the reporters are simply tired of running around finding nothing new when they feel their resources would be better used elsewhere.

Yes it is a HARSH op-ed, but there are some valid points.

MOO.
Click to expand...

That and LE stated at the get-go that this was an isolated incident and yet, no arrest has been made and very little information has been released. If I were a Skyline parent or a parent of any school-aged child in Portland, I would feel a little uneasy, to say the least. The public, I'm sure, as you said, is clamoring for at least some reassurance or information about Kyron's whereabouts and safety.
 
I don't think Kyron's case has been overreported. I do think that some of the media have "oversensationalized" some of the more unseemly aspects of the family situation.

The reporters, editors, and ultimately the advertisers are teh one who make the call about what gets coverage and what doesn't so I have no choice but to throw the blame (if some needs assigning) right back on the Willamette Weekly.
 
chasing.halos said:
:) SBM. It's like Facebook peeps posting on their walls "I hate drama, so-and-so causes so much drama and it is so dumb. Drama this, drama that."

They themselves are being dramatic and causing more drama.... :angel:
Click to expand...

Bravo! What she said.
 
No such thing as too much coverage-I could care less if they were covering the style of his glasses in relationship to his peers...any news is good in a MP case, specifically a child's.
 
He's got a point about the sensationalism and soap-opera aspect. Just look at this very forum and note when the activity has gone through the roof.
 
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