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TV and social media coverage of Boston bombings was repetitive and speculative. The story will unfold in coming days....
The Steve Silva boston.com footage of the Boston marathon finish line explosion is the new World Trade Tower plane implosion is the new Zapruder tape. Another national horror leaves a scar. We know the drill: The moment of violent disruption, the sense of shock oddly mediated by the screen, replayed endlessly — now on every platform. The repeated images become mere images, first shocking then numbing. At some point, perhaps to distance ourselves from the pain, we focus on the conflicting reports of the smallest detail: how many seconds elapsed between the first explosion and the second? First we heard “a few.” Then a more definitive “13 seconds.” Then “between 10 and 20.”
Every network had a different count. At some point we started counting ourselves, timing the moments with every replay. Could’ve been 13, but the speed of sound is faster than the speed of video, isn’t it? We were told that cell service was disrupted so as not to set off additional bombs. That report was then retracted. We heard the JFK Library had a third bomb. That report later knocked down. A suspect was held at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Authorities later said not so. More unexploded bombs? Maybe, maybe not. Information moves faster than knowledge and still the finish-line explosion footage rolls....
Confusion in the midst of a crisis spilled over into news and social media coverage too.