Wrong place, wrong time: Is it news?

Just when Jean Charest and company were worried about protests as they “opened” the Laval metro stations today, a sad event transpired with piss-poor timing: a transit worker died of a heart attack.

Heart attacks aren’t usually news, even when they happen on the job site. But the media was already there, so should they cover it? I imagine it was a dilemma for a few local agencies. Here’s what they did:

  • CBC.ca packaged the three events (opening, heart attack, protest) together.
  • The Gazette covered the opening but made no mention of either the protest or heart attack.
  • CTV also made no mention of the heart attack, but did briefly mention the protest.
  • Global TV talked about the heart attack over B-roll of a stretcher passing an ambulance.

It’s at best a footnote to two more important stories. But how would you have covered it?

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