framing

As someone who works in local news and is very familiar with local news, I can say with confidence that it is incredibly repetitive. When you're working only with a small market, even the most breaking of news events tend to have familiar players in a familiar issue. Yet as a resident of Buffalo, NY, the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking of comparative framing of different news stories is the Blizzard of 77... and every snowstorm that has followed.

In the same way that both the Holocaust and September 11 were reported on from most of the same angles with the same types of images, every major snowstorm has been treated like this in Buffalo since the Blizzard of 77. Storms are always related to the blizzard, and articles will always compare. Looking at the front page of the Buffalo News from that day, the same angles are all covered; how the Feds are reacting, how the community is reaching out, how a few heroes made a difference, and pictures of the mess. We can see this same storyline carried out for almost all disasters, from Katrina to earthquakes overseas. In the same way as the September 11 outline, this structure helps to lend a sense of normalcy during a time of crisis. It gives the viewer all of the expected starting points, and lets those who are affected know where to go from there.