We're Number One

(Editorial cartoon by Glenn McCoy / Belleville News-Democrat (May 23, 2013) and featured at McClatchy DC.  Click on image to enlarge and then return, please.)

Glenn McCoy may be a conservative, but I think we all would agree with him on this issue.  The coverage of the recent horrific tornado in Oklahoma was its own disaster, ranking right up there with the "Dewey Wins" headlines decades ago and, in a way, with the predictions of a Romney win in 2012.

What was especially awful was the thrusting of microphones and cameras into the faces of people who didn't know if their families were safe or where they were.  Just as bad was confronting a mother who had located her young son and was clearly shaken.  I'm looking at you Wolf Blitzer at CNN!

I know the rise of the internets and the 24-hour news cycle brings new pressures to bear on news organizations, but perhaps reporters and assignment editors could dial it down a few notches so we can be presented with facts instead of rank sensationalism.

Is that too much too ask?