I have no problem with the press hyping 9/11. When a dog urinates on a park bench, it isn't being a vandal, it is just being a dog. The newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst once said " The purpose of a journalist is to generate enough lucid copy to keep the advertising in place." Newsies work in the only profit-making governement protected monopoly in this country, and enjoy unique court protection from lawsuits. They will say and do anything to generate higher ratings and increased advertising profits, and to further their editorial policies on issues. As long as we subscribe, they can sell ads. As long as they get income from selling these ads they will lack incentive to provide objective and insightful reporting, and will focus on the cheap and easy targets. Yellow Journalism in the 21st century means afraid to rock the gravy boat by providing anything but opinionated sensationalism.
I have also have no problem with large sums of money being donated to the families. Forget the issue of what cost to assign to the value of a lost parent - that would be hard to quantify. Instead, just look at the financial picture.
If a parent was making $50,000 per year and was 30 years old at the time they died last year, the family lost that income (and about another $10,000 per year of medical, dental, death benifits, etc). By age 65 the deceased spouse would have contributed about $1.5 million dollars to the family, without even considering cost of living increases, raises, or bonuses. And they would have been contributing to Social Security which would have added, in todays dollars, about $1300/month to the family at that time.
The family expenses didn't go down with the loss of a spouse, but they may have gone up! If several million dollars will help the surviving family members approach a normal life, then great, lets get it done! If half of your house burns down, insurance pays to rebuild the damaged area, often a lesser value than what is needed to restore the structure and contents, and even then some things are gone forever. These families have lost half their house. They should be helped in their efforts to rebuild.
OK, off my soap box. Boy that felt good!
