PBS News anchor Gwen Ifill says the media “lost sight of the bigger picture” while covering the death of Nelson Mandela. In a PBS blog post, she writes the focus was on non-stories, including the fake interpreter tasked with translating the service into sign language:
[h/t Huffington Post]There is no question it was an insult to the world’s deaf and an international security threat to have a man on stage whose defense for not knowing sign language was that he could be violently schizophrenic. But did that deserve more attention on a day when thousands gathered in Pretoria — in long lines that reminded me of the first free South African elections — to pay final tribute to Mandela?
I never cease to marvel how efficiently we can minimize real news – whether it be rare proof that Washington has a little bipartisanship left, or history unfolding on another continent.
AdvertisementI’d feel a little better if we could at least try to remember the big picture.