After watching a touching tribute about Dan Wheldon on Sportscenter yesterday morning, I made the mistake of changing the channel to watch a story about Dan on CNN. I should have known better. Because if the mainstream media is talking about racing, that most likely means that something bad has happened.
When something like this occurs, the media wants to know all about the numbers. How fast was he going? How many cars were involved? How many other crashes have there been? When was the last crash? They also ask why the drivers take the risk. They'll show the crash over and over again. They'll get some of facts rights but not all of them. They don't ask about one number in particular - the thousands of laps completed every year without incident.
For instance, this morning on the Today Show, the caption on the bottom of the screen read "Remembering Dan Wheldon." But all they did was speculate about why the crash happened, show pictures and footage of the crash over and over again, and ask Mario Andretti and Townsend Bell about whether the drivers thought it was unsafe to drive at Las Vegas. Never once did Matt Lauer ask them about their memories of Dan Wheldon. That's not remembering Dan Wheldon.
The mainstream media will stir the pot for a couple days, make generalizations, and place the blame before everything has been investigated. But then the story will get boring, and they'll move on. Unfortunately with tragedy comes safety improvements. Dale Earnhardt's death brought about SAFER barriers and the HANS device. John Force's near-fatal accident brought about significant changes to Funny Cars. Scott Kalitta's death resulted in the 1,000-foot distance in nitro racing.
Ultimately, Dan Wheldon's death will result in changes in IndyCar. But the mainstream media won't stick around to find out what they are.
Well said Jen!
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