As were many Americans last night, I was watching televised
reports from Boston. I was struck by how
American television journalism has slumped.
The story—as is often the case in situations such as this—was what we do not know. Kipling’s “six men,” as a team, were noticeably absent,
but that did not seem to stop CNN (the network I watched with a friend). I suspect all the others were covering the story with similar superficiality.
Oh, “What … and When and Where…” were there, reporting over
and over and over. Two bombs exploded as
was evidenced by the same footage repeated every thirty seconds or so. The race clock never changed, nor did the location. The bloody pavement, shown in graphic
closeness, titillated and repulsed. Over
and over and over. The runner who was blown
off his feet hit the pavement. Over and
over and over. The journalistic “thrill”
of the next big story, with blow-dried and well-coiffed reporters breathlessly
repeating what we already knew, was evident.
But Mr. K’s other three “honest serving men,” those whose
spirit is the real essence of journalism, were mugged on the way to the story
and replaced with the Rumor family triplets: Sloth, Speculation, and
Fabrication.
I suppose that is understandable. It takes time for Why and How and Who to do
their work. But instead of journalistic
honesty (“We just don’t know Why this cowardly attack occurred—and may never
know.” “How a coordinated attack like
this was planned and executed will only be revealed after the pains-taking work
of investigators is completed over the next several days and weeks. This isn’t CSI, where lab results show up in
minutes and the crime is solved in an hour.
Let’s let them do their jobs and
we’ll report back when we know something.”
“We don’t know Who did this. And
before we increase fear and distrust, we’ll wait for facts about investigative
leads.”), we were put on the lookout for a “black man in a black, hooded
sweatshirt.” Whew. We should have him in custody before the 11 o’clock
news. There cannot be many men in Boston matching
that description!
We were
treated to speculation that the 26 miles of the marathon and the 26 victims of
the Sandy Hook school shooting were somehow related (despite the fact that
there were 27 victims in Newtown and the race is called a marathon because of
the geography of ancient Greece). And
even after the Boston police chief stated that no one was in custody, report
after report spoke of the middle-eastern man in the hospital who was being
interrogated as a “person of interest.”
Mr. K must have set a new rpm record in his final resting
place.
Oh, Walter and Chet and David and especially Mr. Murrow. How we miss you.
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories
