Some critics believe the media exploited Carlie Brucia. We ran the video of her kidnapping morning, noon, and night, well past the point of good taste and sensitivity. We overplayed it. We needlessly frightened parents and children. We did what the media always do, descended on the story like a pack of hyenas, drummed it into the ground, wrung from it every ounce of human feeling, then moved on to the next big thing, leaving people with a distorted view of reality and a feeling that the world is scarier than it really is.
Is that really what happened?
In the wake of Carlie’s abduction and murder, I would venture to guess that every mother in America had a conversation with her child about strangers. Every parent I know had such a conversation. Every teacher I know did the same. They had these conversations not because journalists were “morbid” in their coverage of this story or overreacted to it. They had the conversations because for one heart-rending week, not just the community but the entire world was reminded that monsters do walk amongst us, and that we need to be aware of that. Telling children about this is not an easy conversation to have. It frightens them. Though painful, it’s an inoculation against a reality of life that many parents have come to feel is necessary. It is necessary.
Certainly, there is a time and a place to step back, assess the sober reality, and provide appropriate context and perspective. But there is also a time and place to be human.All important news is about people, and all people are about emotion. This was an incredibly emotional story. All the decrying of the “sickening” media coverage of this “horrifying scene” and how the media “exploited it,” etc., misses the point. The fact that this child was missing was well-known before the video came out. But the point of that unprecedented video was that it proved she was in the hands of an abductor, probably a stranger. Here at WFLA-TV, we reacted to that fact in advance of actually seeing the video. We triggered our alert program strictly on the basis of what we were told that video showed and proved, before actually receiving it or seeing it. Once we did get the video, we aired it continually and aggressively in hopes that someone from the public would see something recognizable and step forward to help. We did so in the spirit of community service, and in hopes of saving a life. Afterward, the story became as much about the outpouring of community concern as it was about the search for Carlie.
For those who attack this as some kind of exploitation — what a shame it is that you have let your cynicism destroy your heart. For one rare, shining moment, the Carlie story brought our community together like no other story in memory. For a period of three days, people here in Tampa Bay consoled one another, lit candles, and prayed the little girl would be found. Yes, the media certainly helped rally the community. Yes, the ratings show it was one of the highest-interest local stories we’ve ever covered, bar none. This is exploitation? On the contrary, it was a miracle of sorts. Go look at the mountain of cards, flowers, handwritten notes, and stuffed animals that sprang up at Carlie’s home. Tell the grieving people who helped build that shrine that they are the victims of media exploitation. Tell it to the mourners — most of whom never knew Carlie — who packed churches for three different memorials.
Certainly, there is a time and a place to step back, assess the sober reality, and provide appropriate context and perspective. But there is also a time and place to be human. When someone is grieving, you do not console them with statistics. Without question, abduction and murder is a threat most children will never face. Statistics be damned. This story was about one little girl, and a community filled with breaking hearts. There is no news in the fact that 99 sheep did not go astray. There is no rejoicing in their safety. It’s the loss of one that causes the alarm, and its return that leads to rejoicing. This is a human reality that is at least 2,000 years old in the telling, one that all the critics with all their chiding can never change.
Instead of chiding the media and the community for caring so deeply about this one child, we would all be well-served to embrace our humanity, and to capture that community spirit, keep it alive, and channel it to a good purpose.
Forrest Carr is the news director of WFLA-TV.
