NPR: How to Handle the Steve Fossett Story

How to Handle the Steve Fossett Story

Filed under: Media

Steve Fossett after a safe landing in 2006

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

There's a discussion a-brewing in the media world over how best to handle coverage of adventurer Steve Fossett, who disappeared while flying his single-engine plane over the Nevada desert nearly six weeks ago. This piece from Monday's New York Times lays out the dilemma for editors: "When a person vanishes without a trace, when, if ever, should a news organization publish an obituary?"

Time Magazine came closest to an obituary when it published a remembrance of Fossett written by his friend Richard Branson. Branson also appeared this week on The Today Show and said of Fossett, "I think everybody involved has pretty well given up hope, sadly."

In spite of Branson's statements and the fact that the search for Fossett was called off October 3, no obituaries have been printed. I spoke to Ellen Weiss, NPR's Vice President for News, who told me that NPR doesn't say someone's dead until we have confirmation that they're dead.
But what do you think? As the Times put it, "When a person vanishes without a trace, when, if ever, should a news organization publish an obituary?"

(A separate but related note: During our show piloting period we asked an expert, "Why is it so hard to find a wrecked plane in the middle of the desert?" The answer was very interesting.)

Dan Pashman

7:10 AM ET | 10-17-2007 | permalink

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