Miner Rescue Didn't Need 1300 Journos to Cover It

The rescue of Chile’s trapped miners is a wonderful story about “ingenuity, working together, and triumph,” but it’s also a story about journalism, Jeremy Littau writes. “To know that 1300 journalists have descended on this mining town to cover a worldwide story is a little disconcerting in an era of closed foreign bureaus and budget cutbacks,” he says.

There are already qualified Chilean journalists on the ground who could have covered the story, and not every TV station and mid-sized newspaper needed to send their own correspondents. “I see an industry chasing hits and page views by wasting valuable economic and human capital,” Littau insists. “Let’s cheer for the miners, but let’s not forget that there is suffering here at home and it should get the same, if not more, resource allocation.” For all you could ever want to know about the Chilean miners, click here.