I just need to vent for a sec... Lately I've been reading a lot of stuff about 9-11 coming up again. (who hasn't right?) But, I have a different perspective than most people. Most of the things I've been reading have something negative to say about a reporter, or a TV show, or the media in general. I'm a member of the media (I'm a Newscast Director at a local news station, abc affiliate) and we're not all bad! It's just as hard for us to see all of those horrible pictures, and hear all those stories. Reporters aren't trying to be mean or insensitive when they ask questions, if you're trying to capture the emotion of a story, you have to ask hard questions.
I'm one of those people that have a hard time seeing all those pictures. Last year, after a week of work and seeing everything 24/7 I completely broke down. I hit a point where all I could do was cry, I was physically incapable of stopping. I would like to be able to avoid the media for a while, it would make it much easier for me to deal with the day itself if I didn't have to see it and be reminded of it at every turn. But I can't. I have to be at work, and there's a TV in every room.
People in the media aren't monsters, we do have hearts, we do feel things. We have to find a way to deal with what has happened just like everyone else, but we also have to find a way to explain what has happened, to create some order from the chaos of events. It isn't easy, sometimes we seem cold, sometimes that's the only way we can continue to function without falling apart. We go home with the same exact feelings you do.