As others have already pointed out, the death of Steven Hawking is a sad loss to the world.
On the media coverage side of things, poor form by both Seven & Ten for not running the news as their lead story here in Sydney tonight IMO. By contrast, Nine (and I would guess also ABC News NSW) had their priorities right.
I would have expected at least one network break off programming.
I think Nine had it as the top story for the GTV news tonight.
I watched Nine News Now this afternoon and they only had a brief mention at the start. It wasnât mentioned at all throughout the rest of the bulletin. (It could do with the fact that it only broke just before 3PM)
Yes, ABC News NSW did led with the story.
Is his death really significant enough to have to be the top news story on all news bulletins? Please do not criticise me here, I know how outstanding all his work is and I certainly donât mean to offend him or his legacy. But if youâre having a go at networks not having his death as the top story, why are you not having an outcry when other famous, well-known people have died recently and had the report on their deaths further into the bulletins? Donât get me wrong, I think it is fair enough if it is in the top few stories though for the great physicist he was; I just would have thought the most important stories relative to each market would have come first.
Yes.
Do you have any examples of this? Iâm struggling to think of significant figures like Hawking that wouldnât have led a bulletin.
Depends on the story. As far as Iâm aware Stephen Hawking only plans to die once, how often do meth raids and crime statistics happen (to quote one lead earlier in the thread)?
I canât think of exact examples off the top of my head but the deaths of famous movie and music stars havenât led bulletins as far as Iâm aware unless they are the mega-popular worldwide stars like Elvis Presley. Who do you deem a âsignificant figureâ to be?
As far as Iâm concerned movie stars and pop stars are âgive-or-takeâ people who while are popular, does little (if anything) which makes the world a better place.
Iâm sure someone as big as Michael Jackson would have.
instant name/visual recognition or a significant contribution to society is a start. Hawking had both.
In Sevenâs defence their viewers really need to be aware supplies of ice could be about to dry up across Sydney. That story only warranted a brief VO on Nineâs news.
If the usually tabloid âcurrent affairsâ program that is A Current Affair had something on Stephen Hawkingâs death on tonightâs edition (knowing that ACA often have coverage of major news stories whenever warranted, I actually wouldnât be overly surprised if they did), then itâs safe to say it shouldâve be the main story everywhere.
I suppose you are right. I was expecting it to be the top story everywhere at first when I first heard about it at 3:00 AEDT but when it wasnât, I was second guessing myself and thinking that these other things are more important. After all, Seven News seemed to think so in Sydney at least.
Out of interest though, what would you deem to be more important, the death of a âsignificant figureâ like Stephen Hawking or a terror attack/weather emergency where many lives and livelihoods are at risk, should they both happen on the same day?
Case by case basis I believe but usually the latter, but we are getting into hypotheticals now. So letâs refocus back to the Hawking coverage itself.
By contrast the story was eithg (sic) on Nine News Brisbane at about the 13 minute mark. More important to Nine were weather conditions, traffic accidents, court proceedings, train delays and more.
Story was number one on Ten as posted above and second on Seven.
No, but to be fair today seemed like a quiet news day, ask easy to whio up a package with as local reporter. In Melbourne Iâd have thought the adventures of Robert Doyle would have led.
Iâm surprised to find a thread here tbh.
Gotta make the most of a cyclone several hundred kilometres off shore that wonât actually impact SEQâŚ
Todayâs Herald Sun had the fall of Senator Darren Hinch on the front page instead of Hawkingâs death, which was on the entire page 5.
The Age included a quote from Hawking âlook up at the stars, not down at your feetâ and his specially made wheelchair / communicator on the top half of todayâs front page.
