Elizabeth John Outline

I. Introduction
a. Subject of Essay: This essay will discuss the phenomena of how the media portrays stories with key missing information about the story, a unique story that has something interesting about the story itself, and how twenty four hour news channels are always demanding more information and when it is not there, the channel needs something to talk about so they obsess over certain details of a story.
b. Argument: (2 or 3 sentences)
Thesis: There is a certain phenomena that occurs when media reports are released about the death of an important individual, the story evolves around the events of what happened in the person's last minutes alive, and how the person passed, these are key questions that need to be answered by the media because as a viewer when a death occurs these questions are of interest, and the media is a basic source to recieve this information from, and when the media cannot produce the details they become obsessed with the missing information since they are not reporting the whole story to the public.

As a story progresses through the media the story evolves and changes. There are certain details that are skeptical because of missing or insufficient evidence. The media becomes obsessed with the missing or uncertain information because they are not reporting the whole story to the public, or there is a phenomena about the story itself, and twenty four hour news channels demand more news and when there is nothing to report about they find something to obsess about.
c. Method by which this paper will prove that argument: This paper will compare how CNN.com and FoxNews.com reported the assasination of Benazir Bhutto and the unfortunate death Heath Ledger.
II. Body
a. Paragraph 1: (state the overall point in a complete sentence.)
When a media report is released about the death of an important individual, there are important questions that need to be answered in regards to how the person passed and there last seconds alive. When the evidence is not recovered right away to answer these key questions or is skeptical information the media becomes obsessed with the story and the missing information.
i. Evidence for that point: (generally, this will be a cited quote from your research and an explanation of its relevance)
When the report on the Assasination of Benazir Bhutto was released by CNN it read "Conflicting reports about what caused the death of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto are fueling questions about the circumstances of her assassination."(CNN.com). For example "An Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, said Bhutto "fell down or perhaps ducked" and apparently hit her head on a lever connected to the car's sunroof. Cheema added that the lever was stained with blood." Then "Cheema's version of events conflicts with that of the government-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan, which at first quoted the Interior Ministry as saying shrapnel from the bomb blast killed Bhutto. The suicide bomb killed more than 20 others, and at least 100 were wounded." Lastly "On Thursday, an initial report from the Interior Ministry said Bhutto died of a gunshot wound to the neck. Bhutto's death did not result from a bullet or shrapnel, Cheema said, and nothing entered her head.
ii. (If needed, further evidence for the point)
As in the death of Heath Ledger the intial reports released by CNN read "Actor Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday of a possible drug overdose in a Lower Manhattan apartment, the New York Police Department said. The Academy Award-nominated actor was 28.
Ledger was found naked and unresponsive, facedown on the floor at the foot of his bed by a housekeeper trying to wake him for an appointment with a masseuse, said police spokesman Paul Browne.
"Pills were found in the vicinity of the bed," he told CNN.
"This is being looked at as a possible overdose, but that is not confirmed yet." CNN becomes obsessed with skeptical details of the person passed.
b. Paragraph 2: (Repeat format of II (a), as necessary) (state the overall point in a complete sentence.)
As in the deaths of Benazir Bhutto and Heath Ledger FoxNews also reported the stories of these two individuals. Fox News reported the same confusions with how these individauls died and did not stop until the official cause of death was accepted.
i. Evidence for that point: (generally, this will be a cited quote from your research and an explanation of its relevance)
"Bhutto was killed Thursday when a suicide attacker shot at her and then blew himself up as she left a rally in Rawalpindi. Authorities initially said she died from bullet wounds, and a surgeon who treated her said she died from the impact of shrapnel on her skull.
But Cheema said she was killed when she tried to duck back into the vehicle, and the shock waves from the blast smashed her head into a lever attached to the sunroof, fracturing her skull, he said.
Cheema said Pakistani security forces would hunt down those responsible for her death: "They will definitely be brought to justice."
He said other senior politicians were also under threat of militant attack, including former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who promised to boycott parliamentary elections on Jan. 8 in response to Bhutto's assassination.
ii. (If needed, further evidence for the point)
"The doctors — one in California, one in Texas — are believed to have supplied the "Brokeback Mountain" star with the painkillers Oxycontin and Vicodin, law enforcement sources said. Authorities want to know if the drugs were prescribed illegally.
"It's an ongoing investigation," a law enforcement source told The News Tuesday. "It's not clear if there was any wrongdoing."
The New York City medical examiner ruled Ledger, 28, died on Jan. 22 of an accidental overdose of six prescription drugs, including the two painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has subpoenaed the medical examiner's findings as part of its probe into the doctors, the sources said.
People magazine claimed to have confirmed the Daily News' report.
"We are investigating doctors in Los Angeles and Texas with regard to Ledger’s prescriptions," a source told People."
III. Conclusion
a. Summary of Supporting Information: (2 or 3 sentences)
From the information supplied it is concluded that important media reports initially contain details about the death of an important individual, but the cause of death may not be accurate as in the case of Benazir Bhutto because of the lack of evidence. Therefore the media becomes obsessed with the causes of death because of their uncertainty due to insufficient evidence and different explanations in the possible reasons and ways of their death. The media then reports and reports the story and different versions of how the death occured unitl a conclusion is reached.
b. Conclusion Reached:
Media reports want to tell the full and truthful story of a celebrity death and will not come to a hault until the full details are released because of the public's concern and interest in celebrities.