Tanner Conley
Staff Writer
Death can be a tough subject for everyone, from immediate family to those who knew the deceased. The recent deaths of former NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people as the result of a tragic helicopter crash last Sunday are one more reminder of how much the loss of a loved one can affect us all.
Much like any celebrity passing, Kobe’s death was mired in controversy. Yet, most of the public outrage was directed at the tabloid news site TMZ, which is universally credited as the first major news outlet to report on the death of Kobe Bryant. It is widely believed that TMZ had not waited for police officials to notify Bryant’s surviving wife Vanessa of the event before publishing the story and consequently “breaking the news”.
At one point in time, the Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva criticized the “celebrity gossip outlet” for the speed at which they reported the story.
“It would be extremely disrespectful to understand that your loved one … perished and you learn about it from TMZ,” Villanueva said, in a press conference. “That is just wholly inappropriate.”
He is totally right. It would be terrible to find out the love of your life is gone because some tabloid commented on it. At the same time, however, that is the role of journalism in this day and age.
We live in an age of technology, where information can go from coast to coast in milliseconds. So, is it all that surprising that a news outlet, which is dedicated to these exact types of events, was able to post a quick hit article alleging the death of Bryant before it could be officially confirmed?
As a journalist, I believe that if I had the chance to be the first person in the world to write an article alerting the public to the potential death of a beloved athlete, and then collect the subsequent rewards that come with it, then it would be a no-brainer to publish it.
As the media becomes more and more skewed towards political lines, with Viacom, Disney, 21rst Century Fox, CBS, Comcast and AT&T owning almost 90% of the United States’ media according to a Fortune.com infographic from 2019, news outlets are forced to compete for clicks and views from a general public that has a smaller and smaller attention span. Being the first outlet to publish means more clicks, more papers sold and more retweets, which in turn means that writers, editors and printers can keep getting paid to do their jobs.
Another twist comes from a recent New York Post article in which Hervey Levin, the founder of TMZ, defended his company’s actions and shared his side of the chaotic hours immediately after the crash.
“We dealt with Kobe’s people … and we were told very clearly that she had been notified,” Levin said in an interview with LA radio station KNX’s “In-Depth.”
The “she” that Levin speaks of appears to be Bryant’s wife Vanessa, which begs the question: did she actually find out from TMZ first?
While that answer may never be fully revealed, it is important to compare this situation to similar scenarios in the past.
On May 2, 2011, Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9-11 attacks, was killed in a Navy SEAL raid that took place 4 p.m. EST. Former President Obama called for a press conference at 11:35 p.m. EST to announce the death of Osama Bin Laden, but this was not the first the country had heard of this. According to an ESPN documentary “E:60 May 1, 2011, The Night Osama Bin Laden Was Killed” people were already aware of his death by roughly 10:57 p.m. EST. Almost 40 minutes before the official announcement was made.
How does this relate? Well, the circumstances are almost identical. Two major deaths that changed the world we live in, both discovered by outside sources before the official announcement was made. Then why was there no outcry on Bin Laden’s death?
The key difference lies within the public opinion of the deceased individual. Bin Laden was hated unanimously by people across the world whereas Kobe Bryant was adored and respected worldwide. We had no qualms about killing someone who had done so much wrong. The reporters who found out were heroes and now they are vilified.
This is how the media works in this day and age. There is no stopping to wonder if we should wait because we are not sure if people will be happy. We report because news is news. The sooner that we inform the public, the sooner we can draw our individual conclusions on the matter at hand and the sooner we can move on from tragedy as a nation and as individuals.
So, try not to crucify those few people who are trying to scrape a living by in a business that has little to no room for error. They are the same as the people who perished in the helicopter on Sunday. They just happened to be on the other side of the article.
