NewsNation Thinks It Would Have Been ‘Irresponsible’ NOT To Air a Ghoulish Titan Countdown Clock

After the Titan submersible went missing last Sunday on its way to view the wreckage of the Titanic, rescuers determined that the sub imploded during its initial descent due to shoddy design. In what might come as a very grim comfort to the loved ones of those aboard, death was likely instantaneous, as the implosion probably happened in a fraction of a second.

Still, millions following the news believed that the five men on board were trapped at the bottom of the ocean while their oxygen slowly ran out. This misconception was partly due to the tendency of major news outlets to paint the story as a human interest drama—even going so far, in at least one outlet’s case, as to put an oxygen countdown clock in the corner of their screen.

NewsNation, a cable news station, ran such a clock in the lower righthand corner of its screen during its coverage, with the hours, minutes, and seconds until the Titan’s oxygen ran out ticking down while reporters spoke to biologists and other experts. Many decried the decision to run the clock. After all, this was a matter of real people’s lives, not an action movie. Plus, counting down to the exact second the oxygen would supposedly run out wasn’t useful information, since oxygen was only one of many factors in the search and rescue operation. It felt like pure sensationalism.

Yesterday, after Deadline reported on the countdown clock, NewsNation issued a statement saying that it would have been “irresponsible” not to include it.

The oxygen levels on the Titan submersible have always been an essential and important part of this story. Multiple media outlets have published or aired stories tracking the remaining oxygen on the Titan as the search continued.  In fact, it would be irresponsible not to include this information in the story of the rescue effort.

Of course, the oxygen countdown clock raises a deeper question: why did this story attract such sensationalist coverage in the first place?

Meanwhile, hundreds drown in the Mediterranean

While viewers followed the drama of the Titan sub, another disaster was unfolding: a fishing boat carrying up to 750 refugees and migrants from Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, and Palestine capsized. As of this writing, only 104 have been rescued alive. Many have criticized the discrepancy in media attention between the two disasters. Why do so many people care so much about five rich men, but not about hundreds of people fleeing violence and poverty?

Let’s get the obvious fact out of the way first: Migrants and refugees have been so demonized by Western media and government officials that many viewers barely see them as human.

But the discrepancy falls into another, very old pattern: Viewers care more about stories that excite them. Take, for instance, the Thai soccer team that was trapped in a cave in 2018 after it flooded in a sudden rainstorm. That story commanded the world’s attention for days until they were miraculously rescued alive. I know I cheered when they found those boys. We’re all complicit in this type of coverage, and practices like countdown clocks only heighten the illusion that unthinkable situations are a form of morbid entertainment.

News coverage is one thing, but spectacle is another. And viewers have a very simple option when it comes to telling news outlets what kind of coverage they want to see and what crosses a line into sensationalism: Turn it off and watch something else.

(featured image: Nextstar Media Group)