Inconsistencies with bomb threat coverage?
According to KCRG, two Regina students have been arrested in connection with the recent bomb threats called in to Iowa City’s Regina Catholic Education Center. The students, 15- and 17-years old, have been charged with first-degree harassment stemming from treats made on August 20 and September 19.
Bomb threats are juvenile and uncool. Despite the inconvenience they caused, I am happy to hear they were just pranks. On a lighter, and probably insensitive, note, I will say this is quite ironic given the Regina community’s personal sense of prestige and wholesomeness.
Anyway. This news, though good for the folks at Regina, who have been pretty shaken by the ordeal, does bring up something I have been wondering: why have the Regina bomb threats been such big news? They received major attention from the area’s television stations and newspapers. I wonder because bomb threats were a common occurrence when I was a student at City High and do not remember them being such a big media event.
When I was at City High, the school once received two bomb threats in one day. (I vaguely remember one day when there were three. However, I am not so sure about that now. Perhaps I am just becoming old and forgetful, though.) They were a fairly common occurrence, especially during the winter months when everyone had to evacuate the school without their coats; people huddled together in tight groups on the front campus or sat in cars until the school brass and police had searched everything. (I felt especially sympathetic to the poor kids dressed for gym class in t-shirts and shorts.) Bomb threats and fire alarms happened so often that I wanted to place a “___ Days Since the Last Bomb Threat” ticker in the school’s weekly news sheet when I was its co-editor. (I was always shot down by the other editor, though.)
I could be mistaken, but I do not remember any of the threats at City High being covered at all. Perhaps they were such a common occurrence that the local media became apathetic toward news of yet another threat at CHS. On the other hand, I wonder if it has something to do with the way the news industry has evolved in the last 15 years. The industry’s shift online and the demand for instant news and reporting has forced media outlets everywhere to adopt the DI’s comical motto: “If it happens, it’s news to us.” It is something I will have to research — when I have time and am extremely, extremely bored.
Bomb threats are juvenile and uncool. Despite the inconvenience they caused, I am happy to hear they were just pranks. On a lighter, and probably insensitive, note, I will say this is quite ironic given the Regina community’s personal sense of prestige and wholesomeness.
Anyway. This news, though good for the folks at Regina, who have been pretty shaken by the ordeal, does bring up something I have been wondering: why have the Regina bomb threats been such big news? They received major attention from the area’s television stations and newspapers. I wonder because bomb threats were a common occurrence when I was a student at City High and do not remember them being such a big media event.
When I was at City High, the school once received two bomb threats in one day. (I vaguely remember one day when there were three. However, I am not so sure about that now. Perhaps I am just becoming old and forgetful, though.) They were a fairly common occurrence, especially during the winter months when everyone had to evacuate the school without their coats; people huddled together in tight groups on the front campus or sat in cars until the school brass and police had searched everything. (I felt especially sympathetic to the poor kids dressed for gym class in t-shirts and shorts.) Bomb threats and fire alarms happened so often that I wanted to place a “___ Days Since the Last Bomb Threat” ticker in the school’s weekly news sheet when I was its co-editor. (I was always shot down by the other editor, though.)
I could be mistaken, but I do not remember any of the threats at City High being covered at all. Perhaps they were such a common occurrence that the local media became apathetic toward news of yet another threat at CHS. On the other hand, I wonder if it has something to do with the way the news industry has evolved in the last 15 years. The industry’s shift online and the demand for instant news and reporting has forced media outlets everywhere to adopt the DI’s comical motto: “If it happens, it’s news to us.” It is something I will have to research — when I have time and am extremely, extremely bored.
