Do specific omissions in reporting lead to a different feel for the story?

Re: Do inaccuracies in reporting lead to a different feel for the story?

I think we all can agree that he fell off while sliding down the escalator railing. Does it desensitize you to the situation as a reader if you read both, at first thinking he died when he lost his balance (very vauge) or learning the truth that he died due to his own stupidity?

 

Re: Do inaccuracies in reporting lead to a different feel for the story?

Easiest stunt for a stuntman to do is falling down stairs, a series of one-foot falls.

No way the guy is within the confines of an escalator and falls 30 feet.

 

Re: Do inaccuracies in reporting lead to a different feel for the story?

I guess I don't get your question. How do you mean "desensitize" and where is there an inaccuracy? ESPN didn't state it as fact, they quoted a cousin. I don't get what you're asking.

Does finding out how someone died impact how we view the situation? Yes. Does it "desensitize" us? I have no idea what that means in this context.

 

Re: Do inaccuracies in reporting lead to a different feel for the story?

IJAG, I'll try to make it clearer. There is an inaccuracy in the reporting in how the guy died. The NYT story gets to the heart of the matter by saying he fell from the escalator trying to slide down. The ESPN (AP) story, states that he lost his balance while on the escalator. Both stories included information from the police, but the AP story didn't mention that the police said he tumbled from the escalator while trying to slide down it.

Do you as a reader have different feelings in reading both stories? In reading the ESPN story, maybe you could have thought he accidentally tumbled and cracked his head on the bottom of the escalator and died. In reading the NYT story, it cuts to the chase in saying he fell while trying to slide down it. If you read one story that a death might have been an accident and another story on the same subject saying it was the person's fault, do your feelings change for the worse?

I guess "desensitizing" was used incorrectly in this example.

 

Re: Do inaccuracies in reporting lead to a different feel for the story?

I think "inaccurate" was also used incorrectly. He was on the escalator (sliding down the rail). He lost his balance.

 

Re: Do inaccuracies in reporting lead to a different feel for the story?

To be fair, FDP, the AP story quotes a cousin as saying he was walking down the escalator holding onto the handrail. Not sliding.

And Rumple: My answer is kind of. Yes, if the first story is true, it was avoidable. But at the same time, a person's death is tragic, especially that of a father of two young children with a third on the way.

 

Re: Do inaccuracies in reporting lead to a different feel for the story?

True, and the cousin is quoted accurately. It doesn't mean what he says is what happened.

 

Re: Do inaccuracies in reporting lead to a different feel for the story?

The AP omitted some important details. It seems like the NYT went a little harder at this story while getting the same information and basically the same source (police).

 

Re: Do inaccuracies in reporting lead to a different feel for the story?

Which was my point in the first time I asked for clarification. But to quote that part then say it's not inaccurate is, I think, inaccurate.

 

I changed the thread title..."specific omissions."

 

I think you need to work on your thread preparation. Try making an outline first and posting it on the writers' board. Then run it by some "fresh eyes" before you click the button.