From: Derek Thornton <lists@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: bites
> ... but if an human bites a dog's ear, that's news.<
... but if 100 humans each bite the ear of a dog every day, that's not news.
>>of course, like car accidents, that's becoming a routine.no interest for the
readers.
When about 2700 people die in NYC one sunny morning, that's news.
>> also for the same unfrequency as the human biting a dog.and the importance of
the number. if the building were empty and demolished for reconstrcution,
such woudn't have been noticed in Japan.
Around 3000 people die unnecessarily of malaria every day of the year and
that's not news. The equations given in this thread seem to lack a
repetition/dispersion factor.
>>Of course. Nothing in information transfer is established as an absolute law.
The law of the "mort-kilométrique" (in a very short description) or of the
frequency are always combined with other events and appreciation factors ,
those in the transmitter mind or experience. Remember how persistent had to
be the watergate guys to convince their editor to keep faith in their story?
but generally announcing repetitive events annoys the observer. That's a
reason for not following prior events and their consequences if the event is
not very important ( someone decides also THAT in any newsroom)
Who gave attention to the shuttles in the months before the shutle explosion
re-ignited some interest in the general public for the space exploration or
better said the human experience there ?
>> only very well motivated people goes to work to help sickness in some other
place. Those already figured out what's important for them. But the general
observer of the media is only motivated by a stronger, bigger, unpredictible
and more "killer" event. The unique and most certain law of uplifting the
interest of the general public is the blood level. Few could admit that.
?¼?