Melody Kramer




Whats The Earliest News Event You Remember

28 Jan 2015




For me, it’s the Berlin Wall coming down. I remember my parents saying, “Mel, watch the TV. This is important.” After that, I remember the Gulf War - specifically, the music on CNN.

“What’s the first news event that you remember?” is a question I ask in my series “How Do You Get The News?” (and sometimes on Twitter but it’s also a question that I think is worth reflecting on because of the following:

a) everyone, no matter who they are or what their background is, has an answer b) everyone, no matter who they are or what their background is, wants to read/hear/experience everyone else’s answer c) it says a lot about a person without asking them age/gender/location/etc.

There are other questions like this, of course:

1) What’s the one movie you’d never want to see again and why? 2) What’s a tip everyone should know about cooking? 3) Tell me about your favorite teacher. 4) What do you love about where you live? 5) What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? 6) Where were you when X happened?

I think a lot about questions like these. They’re good for parties or for feeling comfortable with people you’ve just met. They’re the kind of questions that are asked by the Humans of NY guy or the Storycorps van or on any number of Q&A sites online.

Homework: Go on Twitter and recall your earliest news memory. Use the hashtag #earliestnews. Let’s see how many people we can get to do this.

Mel


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