On May 12, 2015, an Amtrak train derailed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, drawing in the media to cover the story. Media has a way with distributing bits and pieces of information to the public. When media does release information, the information is released in a way that makes viewers or readers perceive something in a particular way. When news surfaced about the derailed Amtrak train, media officials took it upon themselves to start pointing fingers as to why a crash of this magnitude happened.
It appears that media jumps quickly at blaming a person or corporation when events go awry. Media is quick at accusing others because people need someone to blame at all time. Humans have it hardwired into their brains that someone is always responsible …show more content…
People all around are asking many questions such as why the train was going more than double the speed limit? Was the train speeding because of the engineer driving, or was there a malfunction with the speedometer so he was unable to tell the actual speed he was going at the time? One would think that someone could feel the sudden acceleration of the train. If the engineer was aware of his speed at the time he should have began to slow down because he was approaching a curve. Taking a curve at a slower rate is important so accidents such as a derailment do not happen. Take driving for instance, when a sharp turn is nearing, driver generally slow down so they do not lose control of the vehicle. One would think that the same precautions would be taken with a train that is even heavier than a standard vehicle. Perhaps the engineer really was just speeding so that he could make up lost time due to “equipment-related delays” (Sisak).
Within different articles, the media appears to come up with their own theories as to why the accidents happen. In article one, “Philadelphia Amtrak Crash: Investigators Examining Engineer’s Cellphone” the media assumes the accident was because the engineer was on his phone. The assumption was due to the fact that many accidents today happen because cellphones are distracting drivers. Texting and driving has become a nation wide problem …show more content…
The company should indeed take responsibility for the incident, but blaming the whole corporation for one accident that could have been a simple system failure is not appropriate. First off, the crash was still under investigation so the media should not be placing the company completely responsible for the accident until the findings are released. Furthermore, the accident could have been a freak accident caused by the engineer or the train
It appears that media jumps quickly at blaming a person or corporation when events go awry. Media is quick at accusing others because people need someone to blame at all time. Humans have it hardwired into their brains that someone is always responsible …show more content…
People all around are asking many questions such as why the train was going more than double the speed limit? Was the train speeding because of the engineer driving, or was there a malfunction with the speedometer so he was unable to tell the actual speed he was going at the time? One would think that someone could feel the sudden acceleration of the train. If the engineer was aware of his speed at the time he should have began to slow down because he was approaching a curve. Taking a curve at a slower rate is important so accidents such as a derailment do not happen. Take driving for instance, when a sharp turn is nearing, driver generally slow down so they do not lose control of the vehicle. One would think that the same precautions would be taken with a train that is even heavier than a standard vehicle. Perhaps the engineer really was just speeding so that he could make up lost time due to “equipment-related delays” (Sisak).
Within different articles, the media appears to come up with their own theories as to why the accidents happen. In article one, “Philadelphia Amtrak Crash: Investigators Examining Engineer’s Cellphone” the media assumes the accident was because the engineer was on his phone. The assumption was due to the fact that many accidents today happen because cellphones are distracting drivers. Texting and driving has become a nation wide problem …show more content…
The company should indeed take responsibility for the incident, but blaming the whole corporation for one accident that could have been a simple system failure is not appropriate. First off, the crash was still under investigation so the media should not be placing the company completely responsible for the accident until the findings are released. Furthermore, the accident could have been a freak accident caused by the engineer or the train