Terry Mattingly reads the NYT's coverage of the tornados in the Bible Belt and recalls a long ago conversation with the late Peter Jennings of ABC News:
Anyone who has watched television, said Jennings, has seen camera crews descend after disasters. Inevitably, a reporter confronts a survivor and asks: “How did you get through this terrible experience?” As often as not, a survivor replies: “I don’t know. I just prayed. Without God’s help, I don’t think I could have made it.”
What follows, explained Jennings, is an awkward silence. “Then reporters ask another question that, even if they don’t come right out and say it, goes something like this: ‘Now that’s very nice. But what REALLY got you through this?’'
For most viewers, he said, that tense pause symbolizes the gap between journalists and, statistically speaking, most Americans.
(Photo: Johnny Mizelle of Elm Grove, prays with Samaritan's Purse volunteers in the place his house once stood on April 19, 2011 in Elm Grove, North Carolina. Mizelle lost his home, his farming equipment and 23 hunting beagles during the April 16 tornado that tore through Bertie County. By Sara D. Davis/Getty Images)
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