Digitalizing April 19, 1995
Today is April 19, 2012, the 17th anniversary of the day the red earth of Oklahoma City turned a darker shade of crimson.
This, of course, was the day 168 Sooners lost their lives and some 800 others were injured in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing.
I was living in Boston at the time, teaching at Boston College, but I was home visiting my parents in
Bagpiper Kevin M. Donnelly during the 17th annual Remembrance Ceremony at the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, in Oklahoma City, Thursday, April 19, 2012. Timothy McVeigh was convicted on federal murder charges for the 1995 deadly bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building and was executed in 2001. The bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil before the 9/11 attacks.(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, Pool)
the Oklahoma City area when Timothy McVeigh lit the fuse to the rented Ryder truck filled with homemade explosives.
Life-altering day
I spent the next two months covering the aftermath for an area daily newspaper whose town lost 26 souls in that bombing. It was a life-changing experience for all of us, and hardly a week has gone by since then that I haven’t thought about that tragic day.
I always try to relate my profession of newsgathering to the coverage of significant events, and recently I’ve been wondering how this day of April 19, 1995 might have been covered had it been April 19, 2012.
Viral effect
To begin with, people would have known about that event today even faster than they did in 1995, and more people would have been aware of it. In fact, it’s hard to believe anyone, anywhere would have been unaware of it by 10:30 a.m.
First word would have gone out in less than a minute over an iPhone or Droid cell phone. Live pictures would have accompanied it, and probably a video as well on many phones.
And some of these uploads would have come from surviving victims themselves, some still buried in open spaces under piles of building rubble. The videos might have been incredible. Some of these calls and uploads might have helped find buried victims quicker.
Before long, the viral nature of digital communications would have done it’s job at the grassroots level rather than waiting for people to turn on their TV sets or car radios.
Facebook a factor
The same people phoning word out to friends would have also been uploading that word and those visual images to Facebook, then Instagram, then YouTube. By nightfall, there would be at least 20 million hits on these YouTube video uploads; maybe 80 million by the end of the next day.
By that next day, someone would have set up a dedicated FB page to the Oklahoma City bombing. It would be a place of information exchange, coming-together of those in grief,
Regina Bonny, a retired Midwest City, Okla., police officer from Moore, Okla., kneels at the chair of DEA agent Kenneth Glenn McCullough in the field of chairs at the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
and of outpourings of support. If anyone needed help, this would be a good place to find it.
Other recent tragedies like the tsunamis of Indonesia and Japan, as well as the tragic loss of life in African countries, have shown the power that can come from such focused Facebook pages that serve as a meeting place for victims of tragedies.
What about accuracy?
As for the accuracy of the information itself, that may be another question. Whether in a digital age or not, the truth has a way of emerging slowly. Something like the blooming of a rose when exposed to the glare of sunlight.
Yes, there would have been more windows on this tragic world. There would have been more voices talking about what was happening. But solid facts about how many were killed, who they were, who survived, and who pulled the trigger igniting this misery – all these would all have to wait for journalists to do their jobs in the old-fashioned way: Asking questions of informed sources.
Life takes time
Having Facebook, Droids, or iPhones would not have enabled reporters to learn any faster who was buried under nine floors of concrete rubble. That technology wouldn’t have made finding the children in the second-floor daycare any easier. The search-and-rescue teams needed time to do their jobs, no matter how sophisticated the communication technology.
Of the many things I will always remember about April 1995, one is the way that journalists and search teams seemed to work in synch, albeit on different parts of the task at hand. The search teams would locate the bodies, the journalists would attempt to answer the myriad questions everyone had about this tragedy.
People doing their jobs
At the interface of these two groups – searchers and journalists – stood a handful of dedicated public affairs officers for the Oklahoma City Fire Department, Police Department, and FEMA. Their regular updates were helpful, and the coverage system they devised for journalists proved to be generally successful.
Nearly everyone seemed to be focused and doing their jobs in the days and weeks following that bombing, and the friends and families of the dead and survivors seemed grateful for that.
Both parts needed
Today’s interactive, digital media have shown what they can do in spreading the word to more people, faster. But the newer media forms, alone, are not enough when disaster strikes.
You have to plug in the dedication of trained responders and professional journalists, all focused on doing their jobs, for the recipe for resolution and healing to begin taking shape.
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Comments
It is really interesting to look at how tragic situations are covered in the media today opposed to ten or so years ago. Technology really has revolutionized so many aspects of our lives this being just another example. I did a report last semester on the Tsunami in Indonesia and one of the most interesting items that I came across was the number of first hand accounts there are. So many people posted home videos of the waves coming on shore and the devastation that was left in its wake. It really is thought provoking to consider how history would look if we had the technology we do now back then.
It is embarrassing to say that I have not heard of this story that happened in 1995. So, thank you for this post, now I know!
Regardless of how many bad things media can bring to people nowadays, I think sometimes it is absolutely amazing how fast the information spreads around the world. Sometimes, I do not even need to watch news because everything is on facebook, Russian facebook, youtube, etc…
I think the idea of this post is fascinating and an interesting one as well. It is crazy to think about how much things have changed just in the last ten years of my life. Just a couple decades back you would have to wait a while before word of mouth spread around of recent occurrences (Something happens on East Coast, takes couple days to reach the West Coast) that have been happening. To think of how much technology has changed the world is an intriguing concept in and of itself, but especially pertaining to how quickly we can get up to date news about anything happening minutes, if not seconds after it happens. I will never forget the morning of 9/11, I was only in sixth grade at that time. I woke up to the news showing the Twin Towers on fire with giant gaping holes in the sides of them. It had only happened that morning in New York, yet is was already being televised live right in front of me and was available for me to watch as soon as I woke up.
I thought that you were right in noting that even with technology and the wonders that it has brought to us, it cannot prevent tragedy from happening. In this case we must rely on good ol’ fashioned people and put the robot technology on hold for just a bit. People think that technology can save us from anything and everything, and as depicted through recent happenings of this decade, we see that is just not true. The speed at which we can now receive news and stay updated is invaluable to say the least and does deserve to be recognized for this service we all use everyday.
It is shocking to think “what could have been” had the technology been available that is available today to those who were a part of the multiple September 11th tragedies. I know that these tragedies were much more recent from the Oklahoma bombings, making our means of technology a lot more accessible, but what if Facebook was available? Or even Instagram, or event the iPhone. How much more pictures, or stories, would the world know about these treacherous attacks that happened that has affected us as a nation. How many people could have told their story from their perspective of the matter before going to their grave? What if we were to see what they saw right before they saw no more. This is powerful stuff, and it really makes me think of what it would have been like had we had the social media that we have today.
It is such an interesting thing to think, “what would it be like and how would it be different today than it was before?” This is not only true of historical or tragic events like the OK City bombing but any life event, large or small. I think that our world is changing rapidly. Every day, every minute it seems like new technology is evolving. New trends, themes, agendas become the fixation of our culture and we use them with such intensity. People post to Facebook as they run out of burning buildings or can call for help more easily than ever before. Like I’ve said before in dialogues about the effect of the media, there is so much good that has come of it but also just a change in general to how society functions (whether that is seen to be negative, nuetral, or postive). I think of Kony 2012 and the immense attention that it got on Facebook, Youtube, etc. There was instantanious awareness but was there a deep or true understanding?
No matter what, bringing awareness via social media is changing the way that we think and learn. It is important to be aware of.
This again, goes back to the idea of citizen journalism. Due to the availability of technology, information spreads like wildfire. In fact I believe that news of disaster travels way faster by Facebook and text messaging than emergency notification systems. However, the trustworthiness of the source comes into play. Is the information true and accurate? Does it stay faithful to the events described? They are all crucial questions to be asked. I often see posts on Facebook like “Adam Sandler died after a snowboarding incident!” or “Intense fan stabs Justin Beiber!”. These eye catching headlines will spread and spread. Is it true though? That is another question.
This was one of the most interesting blog posts I’ve read in awhile. I always find it fascinating when people relate past events and hypothesize about what would have happened if they would have taken place in today’s society. It is so weird to think that only 17 years ago the way tragedies were reported on took entirely different forms. I feel like with the popularization of Facebook and other social media sites, people feel more involved and impacted by a tragedy, even if it happened across the nation or even world. By having that interactive forum where people can come together to talk about what has happened and share how they feel about it, it really connects everyone and changes the dynamic.
This post proved to be one that made me think a lot. Our society has altered its ways so much, so quickly, it’s both fascinating and scary at the same time. The rapid speed at which news travels is crazy! But yet, technology has changed our world so much, we can get news almost instantaneously. There is this awareness and addiction that we have to social media that has completely altered the way we think and really go about life. To think back to specific life events- what could have been, if we had the technology we have today, then? Like 9/11. Would that of been avoided? If not avoided, could we have eliminated deaths? Probably. Or then today with Kony2012. If we didn’t have technology that we do, would it even be as popular as it is? Probably not.
This was such an interesting post to read. Major news stories travel so fast today, and it is hard to imagine what this tragic event would have been like today. I completely agree that we need excellent journalists and emergency responders to cover stories. It is also helpful to have the digital media that allow us to spread information to the mass public. If we always had this combination with every major news story, the information would be accurate and quick.
Back in 1995, I was only 5 years old. So I am not able to make this type of comparison in my mind on how reporting used to be covered to how it is now. It is interesting to hear (and almost impossible to imagine) that it used to take people days to find out about such a tragedy when now n days we hear about it within an hour usually like you said. I like how you brought facebook into the post as well. Facebook definitely helps make a place for people to get support about a cause or something happening. I also agree that journalists are still needed to figure out the facts even for people to know after the word gets around about something happening.
This is very interesting and such a great reminder. We so often think that new technology will fix everything. Yes, many things have been improved as a result but it will never fix everything. It is great that word can be spread faster and to more people quickly. This can be somewhat beneficial but in the end it will not fix anything. We need to remember that in times of disaster and chaos, technology will not be there to get us out of it. The skills and perseverance of people is what is needed.
This was an interesting look at the difference between a disaster or large event then and now. I remember reading about the social media influence in the uprisings in Cairo, Egypt in the last year. The social media influence made a small uprising into an international event where tourists and journalists from out of country got caught up in a frenzy that they could not escape. I can’t even imagine something of similar proportions happening on American soil…
This was very interesting but pretty sad too, I haven’t heard about this bombing until now. It is hard to imagine have that happen to you or anyone you might know. This really wasn’t that long ago, and the technology has changed so much, back when this occured in 1995 the word really moved slower than I thought. I didn’t realize how much different things were back a few years compared to now. The word about this bombing would have spread like wild fire, most of the country would know about it within the hour it happened.
I still faintly remember this event, I was almost 10 years old when it happened. To think back then there was no fast internet, no Facebook, no advanced technology in which to get the story to more people a lot faster. I am grateful that we have the internet now because even though not all the information is accurate, it is still very convenient especially when I rely on my CNN app. Also I don’t remember where it was but there was a shooting and the students inside the premises, hiding from the gunman, were able to text their parents to tell them they were hiding and still alive, this was last year I believe. I love that those kids were able to let their parents know they were safe because I cannot imagine what it might feel like to have my children in the same building or area as a gunman and no know whether my child was ok or not. I think that there are many benefits to the technology we have now, despite all the bad things about it.
It is amazing to reflect back on how much technology has boomed the past fifteen years. Technology has exploded over the past several years and it has had itspros and cons. I was not aware of this event before this post, but if it had happened this year, I probably would have know because I have access to the news in the palm of my hand (my iPhone). I am truly thankful for having the New York Times application on my iPhone, so whenever there is breaking news, it just pops up in my screen. It has allowed me to keep up with tcurrent events, which is great. However, because I have been reading more news, I would find myself preoccupied with what is happening around the nation instead of focusing in class or living in the present moment. I also think that with such easy access to the news, people/readers must critically evaluate their sources because of report biases and differences in point of views. With technology flourishing here though, I wonder if it is the same in developing countries. I wonder if they have access to the news and how it would affect their lives if they did.
I always baffles me that people can take away innocent lives without a second thought or care that many more people are being hurt and affected by this decision. Sometimes I wonder do people like McVeigh know the impact they will have on people’s lives forever. One interesting part of this article is adding Facebook and social networking into the mix and what the possible results could have been. I believe, if Facebook was the entity that it is today in 1995, support for the families would have been much more abundant from really far away places.
What a sad but interesting post. This reminds me of how quickly Kony2012 spread and how many hits its youtube video got. The tragedy in Africa has been going on for years but not until recently did technology allow it to become known all over by so many. it is truly amazing how quickly something can spread these days via the latest technology.