To help or not?

Posted at 2:37 PM on May 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)

You're a journalist for a big American outfit -- CNN. You're in China when an earthquake hits. You've got a car and some empty seats and people beg you to take them to the hospital, which isn't the way you're headed or the job you have.

What do you do?

---

Comments (5)

wow i thought that was a no brainer

Posted by c | May 21, 2008 3:09 PM

---

You bring them. That link reminds me of this:

http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/odds_and_oddities/ultimate_in_unfair.htm

Look, you can't fool yourself into thinking that scaring a vulture away from a starving child or helping out five people in a group of thousands of injured is going to make a significant difference - and maybe that CNN reporter is "right" that the "story" is more important. But there is a moral core to the human brain and it doesn't operate on those abstract concepts.

Posted by Noah Kunin | May 21, 2008 4:33 PM

---

I would have thought it would be a no brainer.

Posted by Paul | May 21, 2008 5:53 PM

---

Let's complicate it a little more, then. Your coverage of the tragedy awakens a sleeping world to the severity of the calamity, and as a result of your work, aid pours into the region and even a long-defensive government begins to accept help for the people who desperately need it.

Or you can take two people to the hospital.

Now what?

Posted by Bob Collins | May 21, 2008 6:00 PM

---

duh.

take the two injured people to the hospital. the word will get out.

the guy tries to play it off that he is doing his job where i see it as choosing to get recognition on your input of a story.

totally soulless

Posted by c | May 21, 2008 6:15 PM

---

• E-mail this page
• Print this page
• Tweet this page
• Share this

Services

• Hourly Newscast
• HD Radio
• iPhone App / Mobile
• E-mail newsletters
• RSS feeds
• Podcasts
• Submit your photos
• Videos
• Weather
• Most e-mailed stories