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Published on April 14, 2008

Just over two decades ago, a little girl known as "Baby Jessica" fell into a well. America came to a standstill. Baby Jessica updates came by the minute and the hour in the national press. Nearly 59 hours later, the 18-month-old toddler was rescued, and there were sighs of relief across the US. All were glad that the little girl was rescued, but some quietly admitted that they were also pleased that regular programming was back on the air. Twenty-plus years later, Baby Jessica is an adult and a protective mother.

If anything, the Baby Jessica episode epitomised the decision process of news outlets and how they decide what is and what is not news.

It's sad to say but we live in a world in which a thousand deaths is a statistic, but one death is a tragedy.

Thai consumers of news are not much different from their American counterparts in this respect. We shed tears and dug deep into our wallets to donate money to Siranee Thong-niyom, popularly known as Nam, who died of leukaemia on March 31 at around 6pm at Chulalongkorn Hospital.

Her mother is currently serving time for possession of methamphetamines and left her father, a mechanic, to take care of their five children. Nam was the eldest.

Like Baby Jessica, Nam captured the imagination of the entire country when she had to pull out of "The Star" television singing competition, a Thai version of "American Idol". The teenager had to withdraw because her illness was becoming unbearable. For her family, she provided hope and was a potential breadwinner.

Every once in a long while, sad stories like those of Baby Jessica and Nam come along and capture our hearts and souls. In the case of the latter, there has been a great outpouring of moral and financial support for the late singer's family.

One wonders if this outpouring of generosity is the result of genuine generosity, or if it is because we have become victims of media manipulation.

If we are to claim ourselves to be part of a compassionate society, why should we let our compassion stop there. In national coverage of the 54 dead Burmese migrant workers, while acknowledging the criminal culpability of the Thai side, we claimed to "balance" the story by talking about the problems we associate with Burmese migrant workers - the diseases they could bring and the crimes they could commit. But where is the call for justice, compassion and compensation for the 54 victims?

We are not saying one shouldn't care about Nam's plight, but just that our compassion shouldn't stop there.

Stories like those of Jessica and Nam come and go. But what is important here is that we don't lose our sense of appropriateness. While watching these stories, we should also learn from them and look for ways to better ourselves.

The Nation