Explosions at Boston Marathon

[rooster]

I don't really have an issue with the blanket coverage of this by the media tbh. I've an issue with how they're reporting it in terms of being so invasive towards the victims, e.g. pointing a camera in the face of a guy who just had his legs blown off, but the reality is that most people are really interested in this kind of thing.

It is a strange one and something in general the press have self regulated in the past but there seems to be a bit of a ghoulish undercurrent in this all and I was actually wondering is it to drum up support from the general American public to attack somewhere if it is deemed to be some radicle group ? I really doubt if some of the images shown are within the pre watershed guidelines yet they are being shown on national news during the day.
I know personally I saw a man being blown up and his body burnt in a boobytrap car bomb and those visions have never left my memory every time I drive past the spot and a kid that saw it that day has had all sorts of mental problems ever since.

[suisse]

I think ronk is right, I know people living in Boston and Christchurch but I dont know anyone living in Pakistan. I would guess most people in Ireland are in a similar position.

But is not simply a case that seeing a white person murdered or badly injured due to terrorism is more horrific than seeing someone from a different racial group? I think Robert Fisk - and other writers - is correct here. Looking at natural disasters, 185 people died in Christchurch. At almost the same time, Sindh floods in Pakistan killed 434 and 5.3 million people were affected. 7 months before that, 2,000 people died in the same country and 20 million were affected. These events were shoved to the side.

I get what you and Ronk are saying. I know there's a big Irish community and all that. But I also know people at home who are horrified looking at RSPCA ads but could happily sit through their Chinese dinner looking at images of flies landing on a Somali kid's head.

Having a minute's silence was a nice touch, I'm not denying that. But did football grounds in the UK and baseball grounds in Korea, for example, do so because it is more awful seeing white people suffer this awful tragedy? I don't recall anything similar when 46 seamen (kids on military service) here were murdered by an NK torpedo in 2010.

Again, I feel sorry for the people of Boston.

[IanD]

I don't really have an issue with the blanket coverage of this by the media tbh. I've an issue with how they're reporting it in terms of being so invasive towards the victims, e.g. pointing a camera in the face of a guy who just had his legs blown off, but the reality is that most people are really interested in this kind of thing.

It is a strange one and something in general the press have self regulated in the past but there seems to be a bit of a ghoulish undercurrent in this all and I was actually wondering is it to drum up support from the general American public to attack somewhere if it is deemed to be some radicle group ? I really doubt if some of the images shown are within the pre watershed guidelines yet they are being shown on national news during the day.
I know personally I saw a man being blown up and his body burnt in a boobytrap car bomb and those visions have never left my memory every time I drive past the spot and a kid that saw it that day has had all sorts of mental problems ever since.

I remember reading somewhere that news is driven by cost and 24 hour stations dont really care what happens as long as it is cheap to show.

This was backed up by the Virginia Coal Miners story in 2006. Sky went mental showing it for the 2 days - they got a feed from a Fox affiliate in the states so costs were low. At the same time there was a typhoon where 100s died but footage was hard to get and people had to be flown to the scene. This was hardly mentioned.

More proof of this has been Sky's coverage of the explosion in Texas - I have been switching back and forth this morning to Sky, BBC News and other stations. I have seen no other news on Sky but the other stations have covered other stories. Sky have just wheeled out local news people from their affiliates.

I think they see it as cheap news so just spew it out. Michael Jacksons death/funeral/trial was another example.

[Peg Leg]

I don't really have an issue with the blanket coverage of this by the media tbh. I've an issue with how they're reporting it in terms of being so invasive towards the victims, e.g. pointing a camera in the face of a guy who just had his legs blown off, but the reality is that most people are really interested in this kind of thing.

It is a strange one and something in general the press have self regulated in the past but there seems to be a bit of a ghoulish undercurrent in this all and I was actually wondering is it to drum up support from the general American public to attack somewhere if it is deemed to be some radicle group ? I really doubt if some of the images shown are within the pre watershed guidelines yet they are being shown on national news during the day.
I know personally I saw a man being blown up and his body burnt in a boobytrap car bomb and those visions have never left my memory every time I drive past the spot and a kid that saw it that day has had all sorts of mental problems ever since.

I remember reading somewhere that news is driven by cost and 24 hour stations dont really care what happens as long as it is cheap to show.

This was backed up by the Virginia Coal Miners story in 2006. Sky went mental showing it for the 2 days - they got a feed from a Fox affiliate in the states so costs were low. At the same time there was a typhoon where 100s died but footage was hard to get and people had to be flown to the scene. This was hardly mentioned.

More proof of this has been Sky's coverage of the explosion in Texas - I have been switching back and forth this morning to Sky, BBC News and other stations. I have seen no other news on Sky but the other stations have covered other stories. Sky have just wheeled out local news people from their affiliates.

I think they see it as cheap news so just spew it out. Michael Jacksons death/funeral/trial was another example.

Agreed, we don't even care about suisse anymore now that there is a REAL LIFE conflict in Boston!

[Broken Wing]

Major shoot out in Boston. One bombing suspect confirmed dead by the police. The other is still at large.

[tate]

crazy situation. sounds like an episode of 24 rather than real life.

[Broken Wing]

I really hope they get the 2nd guy alive so that he can both give a reason for the attack and face a jury for what he is believed to have done.

[Broken Wing]

The suspect still at large has been mis-identified as Sunil Tripathi, a 22-year-old Indian-American undergraduate from Brown University student who went missing on March 16. FBI and police of Providence, Rhode Island have been searching for the boy since he went missing, while Triparthi's friends began a Facebook campaign to find their missing friend.


edited to reflect changing situation.

[the spoofer]

The suspect still at large has been identified as Sunil Tripathi, a 22-year-old Indian-American undergraduate from Brown University student who went missing on March 16. FBI and police of Providence, Rhode Island have been searching for the boy since he went missing, while Triparthi's friends began a Facebook campaign to find their missing friend.

So the right wing white supremacist pro gun lobby group are unlikely to have been behind the bombings.

[Broken Wing]

NBC report Boston police saying that this is not the guy they are looking for.

[Broken Wing]

Associated Press report the suspect at large to be 19 year old Dzhokar Tsarnaev from Chechnya. The dead suspect is believed to be his brother.

[Woody01]

Best news website to follow live progress is the Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -live.html

More frequent updates than the others