Anniversaries

Anniversaries are a funny thing. Sometimes they fly by without you noticing at all, but some of them sneak up on you and remind you just how long ago something happened. There were a few substantial “news-a-versaries”in the last couple months. Not only has it been over a year living in this very strange Corona virus alternate universe, but April saw not only the 10-year anniversary of Prince William and  Duchess Kate Middleton’s wedding (which may seem silly to note if you aren’t living in the UK or a monarchist) but just a week later we had the ten-year anniversary of the Seal Team 6 Operation that killed Osama Bin Laden.

           These two events couldn’t be any further apart, unless of course you work in a news room.Much like the more recent marriage of Harry and Meghan, the wedding of William and Kate was a BIG deal for TV news. You may ask, why on earth do US news outlets put on such a big production for these weddings? Well, personally I think it gives a change of pace, for the most part we broadcast or stream the worstthings in the world…in vivid technicolor. We argue politics, track natural disasters, and warn you of the serial killer next door all in the course of an hour long news program, so the “fairy tale” weddings of the royals gives us an excuse to talk about something potentially happy, to get creative with our style, our graphics, music, even our research, as much as you don’t want to hear anymore about the terrible things going on in the world, the people producing the content usually want to hear about it even less. So, we find an excuse every once in a while, to celebrate something, even if that thing is the marriage of the 3rd in line to another country’s throne. The wedding of William and Kate saw hours and hours of preparation, travel, research, special production elements built, and special talent hired across all networks and cable news providers.

           On the other hand, the death of Osama Bin Laden came as a surprise. There was no preparation by news outlets, the hunt for Bin Laden had been ongoing for nearly ten years. News outlets were told an announcement from the White House was forthcoming, so they all prepared for a Special Report, true blue breaking news. President Obama stepped to the podium, gave the news, and the world cheered. Just on the heels of the much anticipated, highly publicized, wildly expensive to produce, royal wedding, Bin Laden was dead and would immediately overtake the royal wedding as the top news story.

           Looking back ten years, these events both seem all at once like a lifetime ago and so long ago. I’ve moved halfway across the country, and back since the events, I’ve completed more education, I’ve worked for 3 other companies, and yet it is crazy to me that these events occurred ten years ago. A lot has changed in the news business since then, and a lot hasn’t, but when we think about anniversaries we can see just how far we’ve come, and just how much more we can grow.

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For reference on what ended up as the top news story ten years ago: reuters