Nobody used a harness then. It was trial and error and an error could have been fatal. Climbing is about being around people who are better than you are and watching them and learning. So, learn the basics and then go out and learn the craft. It's no different.
Death is death.
I can't say that the media exploited it. I didn't read a lot of the coverage though. Some of the other stuff was so awful, so erroneous. John's piece was very accurate. I thought a few of the pieces, especially ABC's Turning Point series, were very tasteful and well done and showed the human drama, a real tragedy, an event even a Hollywood scriptwriter couldn't invent.