Chilean miners... now we're at the hospital...
Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:20 am
The world's media, that were camped outside the Chilean mine filming the miners as they were freed, has now moved from the mine to the hospital where they are having their health checks. The biggest news event in the world this week, that everyone on earth with a TV or access to a newspaper, has been watching and reading about, are now about to get a day of "how the men are managing the day following their rescue", and so on.
I am picturing a convey of media vehicles, probably as big as that convey that pulled out of Kuwait when the Iraqi's were ejected from there in 1991, heading from the mine to the hospital. We will spend the next day or two hearing about how one man who was having difficulties with his marriage is now "back on track" with his missus following his ordeal, another story of how a man is "over the moon" that his baby learned to walk during the time he was underground, and another tale of how the wife of one miner is "elated" that she won a car in a local lottery during his time trapped down the mine.
After the hospital coverage the media juggernaut will disperse to people's homes and have interviews with them inside. We'll hear about how a miner and his family are going to take a holiday to the USA, how another is going to have his garden landscaped, and how another is thinking of taking driving lessons - something he never got round to before.
Does anyone think, rather like I do, that the coverage of all of this is a bit over the top? Anyone know why this has got as much coverage as it has? The death toll in incidents that have occured concerning military activity in certain parts of Africa or the middle-east, this week, would exceed the numbers that have come out of the mine, but that gets one minute on the news - if that. This is getting saturation coverage the world over.
I am pleased these guys have been rescued safely - obviously - but the amount of coverage this has got is ridiculous. It further goes to show just how powerful the media is, give something this much coverage and everyone will talk about it and it becomes the biggest thing in their lives too. I was out last night and it was more or less all everyone was chatting about in the pub. (I am chatting about it here but only to point out how excessive the media coverage is.)
I am picturing a convey of media vehicles, probably as big as that convey that pulled out of Kuwait when the Iraqi's were ejected from there in 1991, heading from the mine to the hospital. We will spend the next day or two hearing about how one man who was having difficulties with his marriage is now "back on track" with his missus following his ordeal, another story of how a man is "over the moon" that his baby learned to walk during the time he was underground, and another tale of how the wife of one miner is "elated" that she won a car in a local lottery during his time trapped down the mine.
After the hospital coverage the media juggernaut will disperse to people's homes and have interviews with them inside. We'll hear about how a miner and his family are going to take a holiday to the USA, how another is going to have his garden landscaped, and how another is thinking of taking driving lessons - something he never got round to before.
Does anyone think, rather like I do, that the coverage of all of this is a bit over the top? Anyone know why this has got as much coverage as it has? The death toll in incidents that have occured concerning military activity in certain parts of Africa or the middle-east, this week, would exceed the numbers that have come out of the mine, but that gets one minute on the news - if that. This is getting saturation coverage the world over.
I am pleased these guys have been rescued safely - obviously - but the amount of coverage this has got is ridiculous. It further goes to show just how powerful the media is, give something this much coverage and everyone will talk about it and it becomes the biggest thing in their lives too. I was out last night and it was more or less all everyone was chatting about in the pub. (I am chatting about it here but only to point out how excessive the media coverage is.)
