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Document Type

Article

Abstract

After a long day of classes, I sat down in my favorite chair to relax and turn on the television. I was just in time for the network national news. "Oh brother," I thought to myself as I saw the horribly shocking pictures of the people who had been crushed by the collapse of the Bay Bridge, "not another story about the San Francisco earthquake." Then I saw CBS anchor Dan Rather ask a victim of the earthquake what it was like directly following the disaster. The victim remarked that the scene he had encountered upon climbing out of his car had been "quite graphic" (Laufer A8). However, Rather was not satisfied with the answer; he wanted to know how graphic. "There was blood all over the road as I got out of my car in front of me [sic.]; there was a brain of a person quivering on the ground by itself. You asked, that's it," the victim responded (Laufer A8). The exchange between Rather and the earthquake victim is one example of hype or sensationalism by the news networks.

Publication Date

1990

Journal Title

Draftings In

Volume

5

Issue

3

First Page

36

Last Page

43

Copyright

©1990 by the Board of Student Publications, University of Northern Iowa

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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