In a recent post I was critical of disingenuous storytelling from America’s oldest, and perhaps most-esteemed, network news operation at CBS. In the name of balance, congratulations and a historical soft spot for the PBS program Frontline, I want to rave about its recent airing of the extended segment Raising Adam Lanza.
In conjunction with the Hartford Courant and with the companion segment Newtown Divided, Frontline took a searing look at the young man who slaughtered 27 people on December 14in an unspeakable incident of gun-aided violence. In a phrase, the combined storytelling, investigative questioning, television production and just plain old gumshoe journalism was gold standard.
With the exception of the obligatory interviews with the churlish leadership from the National Rifle Association (NRA), every word and picture of the 32-minute segment was evocative, telling and humane in trying to help viewers understand the scale of an almost unfathomable tragedy. Little finger-pointing or direct judgment was posed. Instead questions probed included “how did slain mother Nancy Lanza raise Adam”? “Who helped her”? “What was the purported diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome for the gunman?” and how, if at all, “did that bear a relationship to his heinous acts”?
All these questions and more were clearly and fairly addressed with uncompromising humanity about one of the most inhumane stories in 21st century America. In fact the reporting, the storytelling, was so evocative that mere hours later the New York Times wondered if we as viewers were “emotionally ready” to deal with the bell-ringing clarity of the Frontline report?
While that debate ensues, here’s the real takeaway. Chew on this for a moment—our country’s only not-for-profit broadcasting system in partner with Connecticut’s daily newspaper of record provided a unique, lucid and oh so painful perspective of December 14 events that previous hours of satellite time and reams of newsprint had missed. In 32—I can’t possibly go to the bathroom—minutes our collective understanding of the context, community and human suffering around the events at Sandy Hook was revealed to a higher level of clarity.
It evoked an emotional response that is rare in today’s celebrity-infested world of would-be journalism. In fact it made me (and I suppose) countless others who absorbed the same compelling journalism I witnessed, cry. I cried because the journalism was so good and felt it was the only way I could honor the skillful mastery of what I was watching. When I was done, I cried some more because of what the compelling journalism was telling me. Then later—perhaps selfishly—I cried more still because we are now so seldom blessed with broadcast journalism like this.
We all cried about our initial understanding of Sandy Hook. Do yourself a favor. Grab a box of tissues, set aside a half-hour and go cry some more in watching Raising Adam Lanza as a way to grasp the positive virtues of great journalism, great storytelling and how the two combined can create a better understanding of our world, our humanity and ourselves.
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John Durante is senior marketing associate for WordWrite Communications.
