Of course, news outlets should actively cover a story as big as that of Flight 370. A large passenger plane vanishing without a trace is significant news: Any potential foul play in aviation post-9/11 deserves our attention, and the efforts to find those aboard are of severe urgency. The story of Flight 370 needed to be told—it’s an important and tragic one.

And yet the reporting played out like a mystery novel, with false leads, potential culprits, large stakes. The plight of Flight 370 should one day appear as a book, with each piece of evidence weighed and scrutinized. But that’s not the strength or function of the current news media. In the quest to fill 24-hour time slots, CNN and other outlets relied upon non-news about Flight 370, delving into unqualified speculations, emotional pulls, and conspiracy theorizing. CNN even devoted time to discuss whether a black hole could account for the flight’s disappearance.

The frantic grab to report anything remotely related to Flight 370 diluted the actual news value of the event. By doing so, it obscured its tragedy and left an unsavory taste of exploitation for high ratings. This kind of behavior threatens the credibility of media outlets.

Time will pass, and Flight 370’s disappearance will drift from the intense media spotlight. Some questions may never be answered. Consider Earhart’s disappearance: As recently as 2012, more than 75 years after the Electra vanished, researchers still search for the wreckage.

It should come as no surprise that a missing plane generated much coverage and speculation. But when overdone and ill focused, media coverage itself becomes a spectacle that diminishes the news value of its subject. The lasting story of Flight 370 will be that 239 people were tragically lost. Reporting need not devolve into sensational journalism; the story can tell itself.

James F. Kelleher Jr. ’17 is a Crimson editorial writer living in Wigglesworth Hall.