Britney Gengel

[massman]

Beautiful job by WCVB, WBZ, NECN, Fox,and WHDH with their stories on Britney Gengel, her short life, and her funeral which was today in Worcester, MA.

I didn't know the girl or her family before the Jan 12 Haiti earthquake but those of us in Massachusetts (and, especially, central MA--the Gengels live in Rutland) and around the country have certainly become very familiar with them. Her father, Len, became sort of the spokesperson for the group of missing Lynn University students and faculty. A photo of Britney surrounded by children at a haitian orphanage was widely circulated.

I didn't see these stories on-air but watched them on the stations' websites. WBZTV.com also has footage of the complete eulogies given by Britney's parents, Len and CherylAnn:

wbztv.com/local/britney.gengel.funeral.2.1507579.html

Absolutely heartwrenching stuff but beautiful tributes to their daughter who was a beautiful girl.

And great job by all the stations.

Rest in peace, Britney Gengel.

[des]

Channels 4 and 5 did good reporting jobs on this sad story -- but I am left to wonder whether the news media would have given such attention had the victim been a homely man. Consider the scores of other persons who perished in the earthquake who did not have the benefits of being photogenic, female and young. Their lives had equal value.

[seeveebee]

Des. I think the coverage would have been similar. The stations were made aware of this through a family that was very open and inviting to the coverage. I think that was a factor in at least providing outlets with access

It was a horrific local connection to one of the most devastating natural disasters of all time.
This story is a mega story regardless of the victim's age/sex/nationality/whatever.

And the twists and turns of this--especially the "discovery" that she was safe which later turned out to to be wrong--brought us all on a roller coaster ride that was almost beyond comprehension. I think we all lived this story through the dad. Very sad.

Excellent and tasteful covarege by all outlets, too.

[rogertv]

Feb 21, 2010 6:49:47 GMT -5 des said:

Channels 4 and 5 did good reporting jobs on this sad story -- but I am left to wonder whether the news media would have given such attention had the victim been a homely man. Consider the scores of other persons who perished in the earthquake who did not have the benefits of being photogenic, female and young. Their lives had equal value.

Des, you are forgetting the very public plea for help from the president before the national media for aid in her rescue, as well as the story of the miss communication of her finding, only to discover she was in fact, not found yet after her family trekked to FL for a reunion... adding to the pain of this story unfolding on the national media front. Please don't spin it into a beauty contest.

God bless her and her family in a terrible time. They will never be the same. From someone who's lost a sibling, I pray for the pain to lessen each day for them with time.

[spanishjohnny99]

Feb 21, 2010 12:51:24 GMT -5 rogertv said:

Feb 21, 2010 6:49:47 GMT -5 des said:

Channels 4 and 5 did good reporting jobs on this sad story -- but I am left to wonder whether the news media would have given such attention had the victim been a homely man. Consider the scores of other persons who perished in the earthquake who did not have the benefits of being photogenic, female and young. Their lives had equal value.

Des, you are forgetting the very public plea for help from the president before the national media for aid in her rescue, as well as the story of the miss communication of her finding, only to discover she was in fact, not found yet after her family trekked to FL for a reunion... adding to the pain of this story unfolding on the national media front. Please don't spin it into a beauty contest.

God bless her and her family in a terrible time. They will never be the same. From someone who's lost a sibling, I pray for the pain to lessen each day for them with time.

I think Des has a reasonable point. I think his/her example could be used w/ Taylor Meyer in Wrentham, as well as the college girl who went missing in Aruba a few years ago. You don't see many similar stories about fat & ugly people, do you?

There was a recent episode of SouthLAnd, where the detectives were called-in on their day off to investigate a break-in at a home in Hollywood Hills, and one of the detectives gave grief to her boss about it, since there are similar crimes in South Central LA every day and those crimes didn't get the same police attention. It was an interesting and seemingly real issue that was brought up.

I think the local media did a pretty good job overall on the Gengel situation, and that they probably would've done as much no matter who the person was or what they looked like. I also thought that initially, the Gengel parents were a little too pushy. It seemed like the father was on the news each day, making unnecessary demands of the search teams, the military, and of the President. I know he was angered, bewildered, grieving, but what more could he want people to do? Nobody who was missing and/or killed in the Haiti earthquake was more special than anybody else, as much as he wanted to believe otherwise.

I saw last night's recap on 'BZ and thought it was very nicely done. Britney Gengel seemed like a genuinely great, well-rounded person who was willing & able to give of herself on behalf of others. Hers is a loss to all of us, not just her family.

[rogertv]

I think I am too close to the story as I lost a family member in a tragic accident and their body wasn't recovered for 35 days. What more do you want them to do? You do everything possible to find the body one day before it expires if he/she are still alive.

I thought it was tasteful and something the media needed to show for closure for all who followed this story over the past weeks and prayed for their safe return.