Daredevil Nik Wallenda

Cassandra Gray
February 25, 2013
Professor Leake
Writing

Daredevil Nik Wallenda

I first came across this image by Googling “Best news photos of 2012.” On the USAToday news site, this picture was ranked one of the best photos. After finding it interesting, I decided to look up the new stories that went with it.

On June 15, 2012, 33 year old Nik Wallenda became the first person tightrope walker to walk “1,800 feet across the mist-fogged brink of the roaring falls separating the U.S. and Canada” (Fox news).  Other tightrope walkers have walked across Niagara Falls, but it has not been attempted since 1896 and it was more downstream. Various news sites documented this amazing story and used many different pictures.

Fox News took a simple approach to the event. It properly explained who, what, when, and why. Wallenda is the seventh-generation member of wild performers to have a dream of attempting a stunt that has never been attempted before. It was estimated that about 125,000 viewers on the Canadian side and 4,000 viewers on the American side watched. ABC sponsored the daredevil $1.3 million to help his make his dream come true. In return, ABC televised the walk. The walk was completed on a two-inch wire. In order for the wire to not swing, Pendulum anchors were designed by his mother. To give some background history, Nik comes from a family full of acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, animal trainers, and trapeze artists. In 1978, the family was touched by a tragedy. Karl Wallenda, Nik’s great grandfather and hero, fell to his death during a tightrope walk in Puerto Rico. It took Nik two years to be able to persuade the U.S. and Canadian authorities to allow the act. Finally, the authorities were convinced because they thought it could boost the region’s economy. Fox News used the picture above and a picture of the visitors at the Niagara Falls . The picture of Nik walking across Niagara Falls gives the reader a face to put with the name of the article. The picture is also beautiful, which gives the reader a sense of how it must have been walking across the roaring falls.

By providing a picture of the amount of visitors, it gave the reader a sense of how many people came out and watched this event in history. The cable is also seen and how large the Falls are. The distance from the cable and the water can be described through this picture.

Daily Mail, a British news site, gave a different account about what happened at this event. The news story focused more on what he was doing and what instruments he used. Nik Wallenda only took 25 minutes to walk across the Niagara Falls. The water 200 ft beneath his feet roared at 65 mph. To help his balance, Wallenda carried a 40 ft pole attached to a brace around his neck. He also wore a safety harness attached to the cable. The website gave several pictures of his journey across the lake. An interesting point that was brought up in the article was that he looked at his feet instead of looking straight ahead.

The images on this website helped visualize the event more than Fox News and USA Today. The images brought the event to life because Wallenda’s expressions were easily visible and the water conditions were noticeable.

The images allow the news story to come alive.  Emotions spur within the reader once they view the images. A person may feel fear, anxiety, or hope towards the tightrope walker. Without the images the event would just be another story. With pictures, the story is easily believed and presented as fact.

Works Cited

http://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/2012/12/18/best-news-photos-of-2012/1760717/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/15/wallenda-begins-walks-across-niagara-falls-wire/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160143/Niagara-Falls-tightrope-walk-2012-Walker-Nik-Wallenda-person-cross.html

Review Questions:

#1 Reviewer’s Name: Julia Chun
1. Is the image analyzed in relationship to a larger story, and what is that story?

The story is about Nik Wallenda and how he journeyed on a tightrope across the Niagara Falls. She compares the story told by three different news sites with three different images.

2. How is the image analyzed?

The images are analyzed by purposes each serves.

3. What do you find most interesting about the analysis?

It is interesting how each picture is so different and taken from different points of view. I like how you mentioned one source said he looked at his feet.

4. What is most confusing or in need of great attention or explanation?

I think more attention should be placed on the image rather than the story. Maybe the emotion it spurs in you and potentially in other readers.

5. Other comments and suggestions for revision?

I think all the images are very interesting, but more of your essay was summarizing each story rather than analyzing the image in relation to the story. I think you gave a very elaborate description for the Fox news image and should try to make the other description about the same amount by either lessening Fox or lengthening the other.

#2        Reviewer’s Name: Jerrod R.

1. Is the image analyzed in relationship to a larger story, and what is that story?

            The image is analyzed in relationship to the story of Nik Walenda and his crossing of Niagara Falls.

2. How is the image analyzed?

            The image was analyzed by using three different news agencies rather than just one to fill in the gaps that each story leaves out.

3. What do you find most interesting about the analysis?

            I personally find the multiple news agencies to be very intriguing and added more to the story than what would have just been left out if the author just stuck with the Fox News story or otherwise.

4. What is most confusing or in need of great attention or explanation?

            I think that the paper could be bolstered through the use of quotations from the articles in conjunction with the pictures.

5. Other comments and suggestions for revision?

            I think that this was a rather good piece and a rather interesting story to cover.