Silvio Waisbord is a professor of media and public affairs and the director of graduate studies in the School of Media and Public Affairs.

Safe landings of thousands of airplanes every day do not make news. Occasional air crashes grab moderate news attention. Airplanes that disappear – like Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 – suck up tremendous amount of news oxygen.

Since the plane carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members vanished on March 8, news organizations have offered round-the-clock coverage. Ratings for CNN have soared. The topic has steadily trended on Twitter. Critics have pounded journalists for dishing out news filled with unverified assertions and latching onto a story that has pushed other issues out of the news cycle.

Why has the story consumed so much media attention? Human drama and tragedy make gripping stories. We all love a good mystery and the story has plenty. A plane with passengers from 15 countries and the participation of 26 countries in search operations make it a story with global resonance.

What makes the disappearance of Flight 370 an unusual news story is the lack of a simple, compelling narrative.

It has been a developing story for 12 days. Unlike most news, it is an open-ended story without a clear beginning, unfolding and closure. News stories are typically anchored by a straightforward storyline, with a cast of recognizable characters and well-known plots. Government officials and authoritative experts often steer coverage into preferred storylines. Once the official narrative sets in, news are embedded in stories featuring familiar plots (“technology gone awry,” “human failure,” “terrorism”) and stock characters (evildoers, heroes, victims).