THERE WAS A dramatic rescue of a motorcyclist trapped under a car as his bike went up in flames.A local television station has raw video of the rescue (see here). The video has since run on newscasts around the world.
Is it a big story? Or is it simply dramatic video?
What newsworthiness criteria qualify this story as an international phenomena?
23 comments:
Overall, the video was dramatic from my point of view. The only such newsworthy segment would be the cooperation of the people in the area to lift the car and help the man to safety. Safety is in numbers, and if all of those people weren't there, the injured man may not be here today. All in all, it was just dramatic.
Wow, that footage is amazing. Simply telling that story, as you explain the "cooperation of people" coming together to lift this car off of the biker doesn't exactly do justice as to actually see it happen. I agree with Karina,this is a very dramatic video and that fact that those people were there to save him gives this accident a happier ending, which gives hope and makes this news story, although tragic, more bearable then your average bike vs. car story. The story is a bit unusual along with the footage to prove it which makes it newsworthy in my book.
It is both. This is a highly dramatic video, but it is not simply news because it is dramatic. It is what makes it dramatic that makes it news. It is not often you see groups of bystanders, come together in a matter of seconds, to help someone. Especially if they could be putting themselves n harms way. The news is often about a shooting, robbery, someone being wronged in someway, unfortunately these are things people should be made aware of. On the flip side acts of selfless heroism as this should given the same weight. Without sounding too much like an after school special, the public not only should but needs to know what good can come from people banding together for a singular cause.
-The journalism major who still believes in the good of people
I think what makes this so newsworthy to people is the fact that you see a group of what seems to be every day people/innocent bistanderds coming together to help this guy who was trapped under the car. It is human interest. It sparks emotions in people. Here we have a buring motorcycle ignighting the car which is likly to blow any minute, yet these people still came together quickly in order to lift the car and get the person out. Mentionable, I think so, spending anymore than a minute on the story though, probably not the best idea.
The video is capturing something that is very unusual; people coming together to physically save someone's life. Though it may not have any direct effect on the viewers life it is certainly a story that is inspirational. I'd rather see stories like this then the unpacking of Beyonce's pregnancy.
I believe this story was run for shock value. However, I agree with the comment above in that is it unusual and will touch the audience in a different manner as opposed to beyonce's baby belly. I do believe this is a more acceptable story to run over beyonce's because of the story's Newsworthiness Criteria; it's an unusual story and has human interest.
While I would definitely describe this video as "dramatic," I don't think it played on newscasts worldwide for solely that reason. As mentioned in the comments above, this is certainly a human interest story because it has a happy ending to what was otherwise a terrible incident and it is also unusual, given the amount of people that come together in the clip to save this man's life. I also think it is fascinating for most people to actually see the incident, as opposed to just hearing about it.
I personally do not believe that this should be constituted as a "big story." However, I do think that the video efectively captures the interst of the audience. People like to see something out of the ordinary, and I don't that you see a group of people lift a car off of a man every day. With that being said, I don't think this has had any impact on anyone outside of the families of the people involved. It is an interesting story but it is a little absurd that it has become international news.
After watching the video I thought it was definitely dramatic. It would probably appeal to the public interest criteria of newsworthiness. Personally, I thought it was interesting to see people come together to help someone who was probably a random stranger. Viewers enjoy watching this type of heroism. As an international story though, I don't think I would choose to put this on the news. Its definitely an awesome video, but it should probably stick to Youtube. Its not exactly hard hitting news.
This video is absolutely newsworthy. Not simply because it's as eye-catching and well-shot as an action movie, but because it shows a story of humanity that it seems we rarely get to see in the news these days. As opposed to milling around under the stupor of the infamous "bystander effect", this group of citizens, who previously knew nothing about each other, banded together and performed an act of heroism so pure that it could have been ripped straight from a comic book.
Stories like these, which can give viewers hope and a fleeting glimpse of humanity at it's best, are mostly uncommon, and usually get lost in a sea of stories with more tragic endings.
Yes, this story is dramatic, captivating and news worthy. It appeals to the aspect of human interest. Rarely do we see or here of people pulling together to help a stranger. It is a story of hope, that mankind can still empathize and actually give a darn!
I would say the story is newsworthy because it is an unusual occurrence. It is a good human interest story, although obviously it bears little effect on our lives it is uplifting to see.
I think this is a big story because if the individual was killed in the accident it might have appeared in the local paper in a small section, but because he was rescued, in such a dramatic way, this is something that the public is interested in.
The newsworthy criteria that this story would follow under would be human interest, unusualness, and impact. This is something that people want to see and it always has a happy message of not only saving the man but strangers working together to do so.
This was an amazing video. It's not everyday that a group of people muster up the strength to save another individual. If the man would have died it might have made the local newspaper. Because he was saved by strangers it received more coverage than it probably would have received.So yes this was an amazing, newsworthy story.
How often do we hear stories about someone being assaulted in an alley and no one coming to help? The man who's stabbed and left bleeding on a sidewalk with no one walking by actually helping him? Seeing a very candid video of random people running to a flaming motorcycle and wrecked car - something I'm sure most of us would strive to avoid - to lift up the wreckage and drag out an injured man is absolutely fascinating. This isn't a major piece of news, but it's one hell of a video and great to watch and hear about.
Look at the people doing the rescuing - some construction workers, a kid with a backpack, a woman in business wear, people in t-shirts and shorts. We love seeing things like this, where people come together to achieve a common goal - in this case saving someone's life. A lot of people would just call the police and wait - these men and women took action.
Oh, forgot to say - 3 of the people helping were students from Ghana, Lebanon and Uzbekistan. How's that for a random group of people?
While this is definitely a dramatic video, I think it qualifies as news. From what I've seen this hasn't been overblown on the news or anything, more just used as an uplifting small segment. I think that this rescue video is much more newsy than most of the celebrity crap that is given more prominence so just by virtue of that this video should be considered news. Additionally, I think that it meets the newsworthiness criteria of unusualness and possibly conflict/controversy/disaster. It is certainly not everyday that a motorcyclist is trapped beneath a flaming car. It is even more usual for a crowd of onlookers to band together and save the motorcyclist from certain doom by lifting the car off of him! If that doesn't qualify as an unusual occurrence then I don't know what does. Additionally, a vehicle accident that results in the circumstances mentioned prior can be seen as a minor disaster or conflict and, when adding in the positive and unexpected outcome I think that this video could be filed under that newsworthiness category as well.
Being that it is a dramatic video I believe that's what makes it news worthy. Just to echo what everyone else said, it's always good to see people coming together to help someone, rather than all of the violence that is going on.
I believe that it is both newsworthy and a dramatic video. The video alone speaks for itself, so there does not need to be any sort of analysis of it, but things like these are interesting. Its not everyday you see something this amazing, and I think people need these sorts of human bravery/jaw dropping spectacle to: a. break up the monotony that appears on every nightly newscast, and b. inspire and illustrate the greatness and bravery that human beings can achieve.
out of the 8 criteria that makes something newsworthy, it only applies to 3 out of those 8. That is human interest due to peoples' lives at risk, and human strength to carry the car, disaster due to car crash, and unusual-ness since that is super rare. Therefore it is more of a dramatic video than newsworthy....
I think that is a perfect example of newsworthiness criteria. This is an awesome video of someone getting the help that they need, and people working together to do so. That teamwork is amazing and you do not get to see that on a daily basis.
Human Interest-wise, this video is considerably newsworthy. Not to mention the overall quality and dramatic nature makes the news rather interesting. Once in a while, reporting on some good news is a must, and seeing people cooperate like this to save a life is the best kind of news.
This story captured my attention as you talked it in class. It can relate to everyone no matter what background a person may come from. What shocked me was how everyone came together in this situation to help the person in the burning car. I wish life in general as a country we can come together and rebuild communities and etc. Without factoring in genre,race or religion..
Rahmeek Jones
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