Why is it that the media very often talks about lawsuits being filed, but then NEVER does a followup?
I know it takes a couple years for a suit to go to trial, but then why is it that when I do a google search the only thing that turns up is articles from 1998 about the lawsuit being filed?
If it was dismissed, then why couldn’t they write an article about it being dismissed? Why keep us hanging like this?
Because the news media aren’t interested in fighting ignorance. They’re interested in big, splashy stories that get people angry (even if they aren’t actually that important). They put the follow-up stories about how the suit was thrown out by the judge before the case went to trial, or how the jury awarded no damages, or how the parties settled out of court somewhere way in the back pages or just don’t mention the conclusion at all. They don’t run stories about law suits getting thrown out of court for the same reason that they make a big deal about children being kidnapped without mentioning that there has been no rise in this crime, and the same reason that they run stories about people being attacked by sharks without mentioning that there has been no increase in this, and the same reason that they run stories about small drops in student’s national test scores without mentioning similar scores that have risen. They’re interested in getting you riled up and buying their paper or watching their show, not in informing you.
Yesterday’s news is today’s fish wrap.
I think Wendell has the right of it, although there are additional factors. For instance, it might be that a suit filed in 1998 has not yet made it to trial. There are pretrial proceudres and motions that can affect a case in very important ways and which might take months or years to get through. Also, the case may have settled. Nowadays, many settlement agreements have confidentiality clauses which prohibit anyone who knows the details from disclosing them to the press. As settlements are not necessarily publicly announced, anywhere a news organization may not even know that a case they’ve been following has settled, at least not for a while.
–Cliffy, Esq.
Some famous newsman once said that the American news industry is about manufacturing and distributing anxiety, or something to that effect. I’m sure a better-informed Doper than I can provide the details. In any event, take it as an axiom when struggling to understand why the mass media do (or don’t do) something or other.