I don't often write diaries as I usually don't have much to say beyond snarky comments and simple observations. This is another observation but one that stung me enough to write about it on my own blog but I figured I'd share it here and give an opportunity for others to share their thoughts or discuss similar situations where they've seen this happen.
If there's one thing I like about blogs and the internet, it's that you'll often read about stories sometimes upwards of a week (or more) before they break onto the national spotlight. Such is the case with Caylee Anthony, the two year old girl who's been missing some 6 weeks now, despite it not being reported until the girl had already been missing 5 weeks. I was going to blurb about it last week but didn't.
Apparently, her mother didn't report it and if I have the story right, it was the grandparents who reported her missing. The mother, when questioned by police, had a pretty lame excuse that she didn't go to the police because she had seen similar stories on TV about how when kidnappings/missing children are reported, then others start getting hurt. Something like that. It's all a bit fishy.
So back to the title. It was yesterday that I saw this story first covered on The Today Show. What stuck out to me was how it was phrased by the anchor woman - the girl had been missing 6 weeks already!
But...but...how did I know she had already been missing 5 weeks when....the Today Show just told me she'd been missing 6 weeks?
Answer?
The internet.
Ironically, I just heard yesterday about John McCain's attempt at deflating all the media attention surrounding Barack Obama by potentially announcing a VP pick within the week. I had seen a diary on DailyKos referencing a post on Drudge Report about it and then lo-and-behold, what's one of the first top stories on the Today Show this morning?
If you guessed John McCain's potential VP pick, you're right. And not only that, they talked about how this had been bubbling up for about a week and then David Gregory, who was filling in for Matt Lauer decides it's time to start speculating and devoting time to that and so who does he have on to discuss this Very Important Matter with but none other than Wudy Guwiliani.
To be honest, I never quite recognized the lisp/speech impediment Wudy has until today but alas...
Interesting, isn't it? A little girl goes missing for 5 weeks, the story is out there, and it takes an additional week for the Today Show to cover that story but Drudge breaks a McCain VP story and less than 24 hours later, there's Gregory and Gooeyani talking about it, with Gooeyani saying how inexperienced Obama is, how wrong Obama is, etc.
You know, I don't think they spoke much at all, really, about McCain's potential VP and chose the time instead to criticize Obama.
And if you didn't think I saw that coming either, you're wrong because this is the Today Show where the stories, narrative, and framing of all their stories are completely predictable.
Go figure.