[Husker] why?

[Mark Landin]

On 2/18/07, Pat Gaule <pgaule at cox.net> wrote:
> Bob Beach wrote:
>
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Landin" <marklandin at gmail.com>
> > To: "Bob Beach" <baseballguy at neb.rr.com>
> > Cc: "Husker List" <husker at tssi.com>
> > Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 3:23 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Husker] why?
> >
> >
> >>
> >> So, no, I don't wonder "why" nobody is talking about this. They aren't
> >> and that's fine.
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >       Okay, you obviously are above most people and if you are then
> > cool. Since you don't wonder you are a very special individual.  I
> > then would have to ask about privacy.  Should the news media have
> > reported Lucky was even taken to the hospital at all?  Wouldn't that
> > have shut everything down in the first place?  If the privacy of the
> > family and Lucky's personal privacy is such a big deal wouldn't it
> > have been better the incident was never reported publicly?  Since it
> > was reported publicly then people are inquisitive enough to want to know.
>
>
> I think this discussion has more than worn itself out.  If Marlon Lucky
> and his family want to let everyone know what happened, then it will
> come out.  Until then, it's not fair for anyone to try and speculate.

On the contrary, I think Bob's questions are fair. The question before
us now is not about Marlon Lucky, but about the press and privacy in
general.

When I'm taken to the hospital, the media doesn't care, and even if a
reporter happens to be standing on my front lawn and sees me put into
the ambulance, he's probably not gonig to report on it. On the other
hand, if a reporter *hears* that a "famous" person is hospitalized,
they will go to great lengths to discover and report that information.
(And by "hear", I mean either by word-of-mouth, or by police scanners,
etc).

Personally, I think even reporting that someone went to the hospital
is ethically debatable, unless that person's health status is somehow
directly relevant to the welfare of the public in general (for
instance, if the President is in the hospital). NU football players
aren't directly relevant to my own welfare (merely my enjoyment), so
no I don't feel there is any kind of "public obligation" for the press
to report on these matters.

However, it's also not illegal for them to do so, and their customer
base clearly wants to read about such things, so it's going to
continue, for better or worse.