The Sum of All Fears

Hard news is sometimes a hard subject for reporters to cover. Especially when they are expected to interview people who have been deeply affected by tragedies. The three main examples speaker Ned Waugaman gave were Sept. 11, the hurricanes of 2004 and the recent wild fires in California. Reporters must be sensitive when interviewing subjects that have been through a crisis.

The company Waugaman works for is called Arbitron, which is an international media and marketing firm. Waugaman used examples from his company's firm to show the importance of radio in times of crisis.

When Sept. 11 occurred, Americans were left stumped and confused. What seemed like a country that was invincible had been attacked. All TV stations changed from their regular TV shows to the news of the current event.

According to Arbitron's survey, a million people in New York were listening to WINS (a local radio news program) around 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 11.

Mary Manno