No, I just think some of you are a bit too cynical.
I agree, I squirm a bit and am ambivalent about asking the grieving ones to “talk” to their missing loved ones. But this practice on TV news certainly has a long precident, so one could say that they were following a tradition. However, yeah - I think there were times it was possibly taken too far.
And yeah, I think there were times that the reporters tugged at the heartstrings a bit too much. But most of the time, (from what I saw) there was no need to tug at heartstrings. The bare facts these people related were heartbreaking enough.
And sure, focusing on the distraught families fills air time. Sure, it benefits the networks, giving them something to show us - an almost unending stream of people who want to talk. But the key thing is - they want to talk.
Today on FoxNews I saw Shepard Smith and Bill O’Reilly address why they were featuring these relatives. I wonder if perhaps they’ve gotten a bit of flack from people who are concerned that they are “exploiting” these folks. So Smith and O’Reilly addressed their reasons. Basically, they explained that the families WANTED to do it. Any action is better than nothing, and they felt they were doing something.
Another reporter commented that people were seeking her out to show photos of relatives. The reporter commented that having relatives of missing people seeking her out was quite unique (before this). So why should the reporter deny these insistent relatives something they desperately wanted?
O’Reilly had two relatives on his first edition of his show (8 pm EST). He asked each man who he interviewed what their reasons were for being on the show, and how they felt about being on TV. They both said they were doing it as part of the search process. They just wanted to cover all their bases, do EVERYTHING they could to get their missing relative’s image out to as many people as possible. One man wanted to develop a timeline of where his daughter was that morning - which bus, train, etc. she was on at what time that morning, on her way to work. He was hoping someone would remember seeing her during her commute. Both men knew why they were there, with eyes open. They didn’t feel exploited. I don’t think they were.