# Are you interested in news media reporting bio info about victims? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 2, 2025, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-interested-in-news-media-reporting-bio-info-about-victims/1012499 "2025-01-02T19:43:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-interested-in-news-media-reporting-bio-info-about-victims/1012499/41 "2025-01-04T20:21:34Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I’ve always found TV news sensationalistic. Always asking bereaved family members how they feel about their loss, and if they can get them to cry on camera, even better. I don’t remember a time in their history when they didn’t do that. My late wife used to say that if she had ever died in a horrible accident she planned on hanging around long enough to be there when some reporter shoved a microphone in my face. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-interested-in-news-media-reporting-bio-info-about-victims/1012499/42 "2025-01-04T20:29:43Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I’ve always found TV news sensationalistic… I’m commenting from a British perspective, so there may be differences in how far we got down the road and how fast. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > It was radio. Ooops - my mistake. j ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-interested-in-news-media-reporting-bio-info-about-victims/1012499/43 "2025-01-05T03:13:04Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > This must be one of those cultural difference things again. The write-ups mentioned in the OP seem perfectly normal and respectful to me - in fact, I’ve been troubled in the past by how little American media seems to care about the victims in incidents like these. And that is one reason why you see so much coverage of the victims and their lives. Because if the media _didn’t_ report those things a lot of people would be “troubled” as @Alessan said he is. Also it’s just basic story-telling. “A man stabbed a woman to death.” OK, who is this man? Why did he do this? Who was this woman? All fair game. But when you get down to details like: “The victim’s favorite Beatles song was _Hey Jude_ and she never cared much for peanut butter.” Then you’re just pandering and _filling black_\* (for TV news; _filling space_ for print or online.) \*I always wanted to write a screenplay about local TV news featuring a hapless news director named Phil Black. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-interested-in-news-media-reporting-bio-info-about-victims/1012499/44 "2025-01-05T04:06:48Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Are you interested in such info? No, not at all. In fact i dont want to knw the names of mass murderers either. Dont give them the fame they want. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-interested-in-news-media-reporting-bio-info-about-victims/1012499/45 "2025-01-05T08:08:22Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > . But when you get down to details like: “The victim’s favorite Beatles song was _Hey Jude_ and she never cared much for peanut butter.” Then you’re just pandering and _filling black_\* (for TV news; _filling space_ for print or online.) You call it “filling space”; I call it “painting a picture”, and consider it good writing. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-interested-in-news-media-reporting-bio-info-about-victims/1012499/46 "2025-01-05T10:09:15Z")
Much is being made in the UK of the fact that one of the New Orleans truck victims was the stepson of prince William’s ex nanny. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-interested-in-news-media-reporting-bio-info-about-victims/1012499/47 "2025-01-05T19:54:26Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > You call it “filling space”; I call it “painting a picture”, and consider it good writing. I was saying it’s merely “filling space” when it gets to the point that a newspaper article is telling us about a victim not liking peanut butter (unless it somehow had something to do with the larger story). Save that for the inevitable TrueCrime book. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-interested-in-news-media-reporting-bio-info-about-victims/1012499/48 "2025-01-05T20:15:19Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > So what? Nobody does journalism from the goodness of their heart. They do it for money, or fame, or some sort of political agenda - and honestly, the ones I trust the most are the ones who do it for money. The problem with mainstream media today (and by that I especially mean Fox News and its ilk) isn’t that it cares about money, it’s that it cares about things that _aren’t_ money. This isn’t true. There is a strong element of community-mindedness and public service in those who choose journalism as a career. I’m not talking about publishers, by and large, or tv talking heads, but reporters and editors. Generally journalism has been a career for cynical romantics who like talking to strangers, and exposing secrets that deserve the light of day. That said, providing a noble community service pays no bills. And advertisers, above all, want to know that their target clients are reading or listening to the media they are putting those ads in. So, you have to write things people want to read. And people want to read those ‘human interest stories’. Ergo. The stories of the victims is a phenomenon which simply parallels the rise of mass murders. The common idea that the perps do it for the fame has given rise to an impulse to honor the victims with our attention (rather than the perp); although this is definitely only honored in the breach, it exists. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-interested-in-news-media-reporting-bio-info-about-victims/1012499.md?page=2)