If you heard about the ferries that collided outside of Macau (near Hong Kong) last night, do not worry. I was no where near that area.
Nearly 140 people were injured after two high speed ferries crashed during foggy conditions. (Click here for the full story.)
Macau is one of two special administrative regions of China, one of which is Hong Kong. Macau is mainly known for its casinos.
Some students were planning to visit Macau today, but I decided against it before even knowing about the accident. I feel so safe in Hong Kong, that these kind of accidents seem rare.
What is not rare is the amount of gore shown on the local media.
I first noticed the wreck while riding on the MTR (metro) tonight. I could not understand the news cast as it is in Cantonese, but I saw the pictures.
I've seen blood, guts, a corpse and worse while riding on the metro. In the case of this accident, the news actually showed people seriously injured on the ferry.
In the local newspaper, I read actual reports of suicides, mainly of people jumping off buildings. Reporting suicides and attempted suicides seems strange to me.
My journalism ethics professor here at CUHK does not seem to agree with the amount of gore shown on the news in Hong Kong. I will be learning more about Hong Kong's media in that course over this semester.
As an outsider looking in, the level of gore in the media here does seem grotesque. But with the U.S. media's car chases, fires, reports of rape and murder, I wonder how different the two really are.
1 comment:
Wow, scary. I'm glad nobody (apparently) was killed, and that you weren't anywhere near the scene...
I would never have guessed that the media there would be so ``blood-and-guts'' oriented. But I think you're right...maybe American media outlets don't show grotesque images like that, but are we really much better? And at least you don't get 24-hour coverage of Britney Spears there. Your studies of the media there should be VERY interesting. Glad to hear you're still in the ethics class! :-)
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