By CAROLINA PEREZ
Kate Spade was found dead in her Manhattan apartment on the morning of June 5 after she allegedly took her own life. Articles on this tragedy can be found on any major digital news reporting site such as The New York Times, ABC News, CNN and NPR. Because of Spade’s contribution to the fashion industry, digital fashion magazines are also covering her death including websites like HarpersBazaar.com, TownandCountryMag.com and Cosmopolitan.com.
For the purpose of analyzing coverage by the news media on Kate Spade’s death, I chose BBC as the most reliable source of news. Click here to reference BBC article: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44374844
This story began like any other breaking news story should — inverted pyramid style with the most important information highlighted at the top of the article and the least important at the end. The lead included who, what and where, but was missing the when. The next sentence stated the current investigation of her death which gave us an insight that the incident happened recently.
As a reader, the next thing I would want to know is, who is Kate Spade? BBC did just that. The story informed us on her contribution to fashion as a shoes, clothes and accessories designer.
After that, the article described details of the incident. BBC explained the discovery of Spade’s “unresponsive” body, as well as a note that was left behind. In my opinion, I feel like there was a lot of information that was left out that could’ve been included in this section of the article. Some things I would be curious about is whether or not there were signs of depression that led her to take her own life. If she allegedly took her own life, how did she do it?
BBC provided basic information but didn’t dive into detail. After the basic summary of the incident, the article ended with more information about Spade’s fashion legacy. The coverage felt incomplete and left me, as the reader, with many unanswered questions. BBC was not the only source who could’ve used more detail in their reporting.
On the other hand, I believe the news media are attempting to respect the privacy of Spade’s family. In the next few days, these news outlets will continue to fill in the missing pieces as the police investigation progresses.