FIRE AND POWER IN THE
IN THE NEWSWORTHINESS GAME
Written by Steven M. Gorelick to
Byron Calame, Public Editor of
The New York Times,
March 13, 2007.

Writer’s Preface:
The letter has an interesting history. The little “speech” in the letter that I give every semester to my students at Hunter College was first delivered almost exactly 17 years ago today when on March 25, 1990, 87 Honduran immigrants died in a fire at the Happy Land Social Club in the Bronx. The club had been closed in 1988 for code violations that included no fire exits, alarms or sprinkler system. Yet no follow-up by the city authorities was ever documented. The victims were trapped trying to escape.

It was at about the same time that I had begun to teach a course at Hunter called Myths and Images. The course focused on the mythology, language, imagery, and ideology of social problems in media and culture. We followed the Happyland Fire as an example of the kind of problem that is often ignored because of the minimal political power and social capital of the victims. What, people would ask, were they doing in an unlicensed club anyway? The victims—immigrants seeking some affordable entertainment—and not negligent public officials, were to blame.

As I began to follow the issue of fire safety and the whole inspection process, I discovered that it wasn't as simple as clear negligence. Fire inspections often did take place. Citations were issued. But what never happened was the kind of dogged persistence and broad involvement of inspectors, elected officials, and the media that really is the only way that intractable social problems have a chance of being solved. And this is the kind of effort that almost always happens only when those affected have some political muscle. So I started to make the speech. And as the years passed it expanded to include fires that started because of the lethal combination of winter, poverty, and negligent landlords. A winter didn't pass when some family wasn’t wiped out as they desperately tried to warm their apartment with defective heaters or gas ovens on high.

Fast forward to the week of first week of March. I made the speech. And several days later, 9 West African immigrants, including 8 children, died in a Bronx fire. This is the letter to the New York Times public editor that was never acknowledged:

To: New York Times Public Editor
Re: Coverage of Fire Safety

Dear Mr. Calame:
I am frustrated.

For close to 18 years, I have taught a course at Hunter College called Social Problems and Mass Media. We examine as many as ten social issues completely through the lens of their coverage. The media include, but are not limited to, television, print, radio, Internet, fiction, theater, music, and even urban legends. We are less concerned with what serious research might reveal about a problem than with examining the picture that emerges— distortions and all—from all these media sources.

A number of years ago, I began to start every semester with roughly the same statement:

“The newsworthiness calculus is infinitely more complex and instinctive than we think. Rather than applying any precise formula that determines what matters in the world, or by exercising overt, intentional bias, editors consider a slew of variables when deciding how prominently to feature a story, including the current news environment, social context, the uniqueness of the story, what they understand the interests of their audience to be, etc.”

“Some things, though, just never seem to be taken as seriously as they should. Take fire safety. At least once before the end of the (insert any fall or spring semester from 1987- 2007), anywhere from 3 – 50 people, probably low income immigrants, will die in a fire. The fire will either take place in an unsafe and unregulated social club or in a crowded home or apartment. The causes might include ovens left on overnight, inadequate and blocked exits, electrical heaters that need more electricity than a poorly wired residence can provide, or something else.”

“In the week after, officials will trip over themselves to show grief and express anger at the lack of attention given to fire safety. Some officials will demand public hearings, which might or might not be held. The competition to look the most indignant will be hard fought.”

“Then the funerals will take place and hundreds of journalists and photographers will angle for the now iconic picture of the coffins lined up. Some of the coffins, those for children, will be tiny. The tabloids will put it on the cover. The others will find a more discrete placement for the picture...”

“And finally, anywhere from 6 - 9 weeks later, after the demand for hearings has been forgotten, the story will be gone from sight and from mind. No lobby or political force will emerge from the affected community to demand action. No in-depth, Pulitzer-style team will be assembled to tackle the problems, of heat, fire, poverty, negligent landlords, blocked fire exits, unsafe wall heaters, etc.”

“And then we will wait for the next fire.”