Convergent Journalism: An Introduction, 4th Edition

Chapter 4 Reporting beyond the Basics

Scott Reinardy

DOI: 10.4324/9781003402039-4

Introduction

No lives were lost on the Titanic when it struck an iceberg and sank in 1912 (The World, 1912).

When Adolf Hitler was released from a Bavaria prison in 1924, it was reported that he would “retire to private life and return to Austria, the country of his birth” (New York Times, 1924).

In July 1981, the New York Times labeled AIDS as a cancer in a story headlined, “Rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals” (Altman, 1981).

And, no American babies were born after 2015 (Los Angeles Herald, 1910).

These were the original reports in newspapers regarding some transformational and historical events in the twentieth century. As we now know, more than 1,500 died ...