media coverage in newtown, ct

JC29856

does "the media" care about the children, families and community or do they care about the story? from the looks on their faces and the expression and tone in their voice when delivering the story one would think they actually care about the persons involved, but do they?

is it okay to shove a microphone and camera in a 7 year old face (with parents consent) just after the events unfolded?

is it okay to show 24/7 on the scene videos and pictures of frightened parents and children?

JimmyV

I hear what you are saying. But caring about the story is the media's job. I think it is up to all of us to change the station or turn off the TV when we feel the coverage has gone too far.

Slap upside the head

(with parents consent)

I think your issue should be with them instead of the Media.

They are just doing their job. I am sure some of them have real trouble sleeping at night.

MotoDC

JC29856 wrote:

does "the media" care about the children, families and community or do they care about the story? from the looks on their faces and the expression and tone in their voice when delivering the story one would think they actually care about the persons involved, but do they?

is it okay to shove a microphone and camera in a 7 year old face (with parents consent) just after the events unfolded?is it okay to show 24/7 on the scene videos and pictures of frightened parents and children?

No I think it's pretty despicable and insensitive. Don't think it should be legally prohibited or anything though.

JC29856

Slap upside the head wrote:

(with parents consent)

I think your issue should be with them instead of the Media.

They are just doing their job. I am sure some of them have real trouble sleeping at night.

the classic "im just doing my job" excuse

you think its there job to show pictures of relatives (in this case sister) as they learn of the death(s)?

cincybearcat

You are right, we should just ignore it and it'll go away.

hedonist

MotoDC wrote:

JC29856 wrote:

does "the media" care about the children, families and community or do they care about the story? from the looks on their faces and the expression and tone in their voice when delivering the story one would think they actually care about the persons involved, but do they?

is it okay to shove a microphone and camera in a 7 year old face (with parents consent) just after the events unfolded?is it okay to show 24/7 on the scene videos and pictures of frightened parents and children?

No I think it's pretty despicable and insensitive. Don't think it should be legally prohibited or anything though.

Agreed. But jeez, if I were a parent, I'd be hugging and comforting the fuck out of my child, away from all cameras and other intrusions.

Slap upside the head

JC29856 wrote:

Slap upside the head wrote:

(with parents consent)

I think your issue should be with them instead of the Media.

They are just doing their job. I am sure some of them have real trouble sleeping at night.

the classic "im just doing my job" excuse

you think its there job to show pictures of relatives (in this case sister) as they learn of the death(s)?

Um, yea - that's why they have cameras.

Abe Froman

JC29856 wrote:

does "the media" care about the children, families and community or do they care about the story? from the looks on their faces and the expression and tone in their voice when delivering the story one would think they actually care about the persons involved, but do they?

is it okay to shove a microphone and camera in a 7 year old face (with parents consent) just after the events unfolded?

is it okay to show 24/7 on the scene videos and pictures of frightened parents and children?

No. Especially interviewing the 7yr old. It is sickening. That video will be there for a lifetime. Completely fucking wrong.

JC29856

cincybearcat wrote:

You are right, we should just ignore it and it'll go away.

who said to ignore it?

even flow - question mark

We couldn't beleive how many kids oooops children they were interviewing about this shooting. Why they needed to be asked any questions is beyond me. Again.....sad state of affairs.

mickeyrat

oh I dont know. lets ask someone still reeling in shock if its ok to "xyz".

Seems a bit of decorum lacking these days. I do have to give props to CBS, and Bob Orr specifically for repeatedly trying to keep the wild speculation and inaccurate info in check. He used to be on our local news. National grabbed a good one with him.

Drowned Out

JC29856 wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

You are right, we should just ignore it and it'll go away.

who said to ignore it?

This is one issue that ignoring the problem can help. I read the same complaint from so many on friday....well guess what the common trait between all of the critics was? They were all tuned in to the tv coverage.
Nearly all tv news is garbage. Watching it contributes to the problem (and so many others).

polaris_x

i know someone who knows someone who lost a child in this massacre ... and i can tell you that the media are making an already painful and tragic event much worse ...

cincybearcat

polaris_x wrote:

i know someone who knows someone who lost a child in this massacre ... and i can tell you that the media are making an already painful and tragic event much worse ...

How so exactly?

I don;t think it could get much worse. Is it just the constant reminder? I would think that anywhere those poor mom's and dad's went would present constant reminders. I can;t even imagine it.

Yet, if my little girl felt like talking about what happened or talking about her friends that she lost, or the ones that survived with her, I think that I would let her. I'm sure those parents didn;t just let their kids tal to the media. I'm sure they talked to plenty of people to help.

polaris_x

cincybearcat wrote:

How so exactly?

I don;t think it could get much worse. Is it just the constant reminder? I would think that anywhere those poor mom's and dad's went would present constant reminders. I can;t even imagine it.

Yet, if my little girl felt like talking about what happened or talking about her friends that she lost, or the ones that survived with her, I think that I would let her. I'm sure those parents didn;t just let their kids tal to the media. I'm sure they talked to plenty of people to help.

they are harassing the family for interviews ... basically stalking them ... not leaving them alone ...

norm

Let me tell you a story. The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound bites to support it. “Wouldn’t you say,” she asked, “that killings like this are influenced by violent movies?” No, I said, I wouldn’t say that. “But what about ‘Basketball Diaries’?” she asked. “Doesn’t that have a scene of a boy walking into a school with a machine gun?” The obscure 1995 Leonardo Di Caprio movie did indeed have a brief fantasy scene of that nature, I said, but the movie failed at the box office (it grossed only $2.5 million), and it’s unlikely the Columbine killers saw it.

The reporter looked disappointed, so I offered her my theory. “Events like this,” I said, “if they are influenced by anything, are influenced by news programs like your own. When an unbalanced kid walks into a school and starts shooting, it becomes a major media event. Cable news drops ordinary programming and goes around the clock with it. The story is assigned a logo and a theme song; these two kids were packaged as the Trench Coat Mafia. The message is clear to other disturbed kids around the country: If I shoot up my school, I can be famous. The TV will talk about nothing else but me. Experts will try to figure out what I was thinking. The kids and teachers at school will see they shouldn’t have messed with me. I’ll go out in a blaze of glory.”

In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of “explaining” them. I commended the policy at the Sun-Times, where our editor said the paper would no longer feature school killings on Page 1. The reporter thanked me and turned off the camera. Of course the interview was never used. They found plenty of talking heads to condemn violent movies, and everybody was happy.

—Roger Ebert

Slap upside the head

norm wrote:

Let me tell you a story. The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound bites to support it. “Wouldn’t you say,” she asked, “that killings like this are influenced by violent movies?” No, I said, I wouldn’t say that. “But what about ‘Basketball Diaries’?” she asked. “Doesn’t that have a scene of a boy walking into a school with a machine gun?” The obscure 1995 Leonardo Di Caprio movie did indeed have a brief fantasy scene of that nature, I said, but the movie failed at the box office (it grossed only $2.5 million), and it’s unlikely the Columbine killers saw it.

The reporter looked disappointed, so I offered her my theory. “Events like this,” I said, “if they are influenced by anything, are influenced by news programs like your own. When an unbalanced kid walks into a school and starts shooting, it becomes a major media event. Cable news drops ordinary programming and goes around the clock with it. The story is assigned a logo and a theme song; these two kids were packaged as the Trench Coat Mafia. The message is clear to other disturbed kids around the country: If I shoot up my school, I can be famous. The TV will talk about nothing else but me. Experts will try to figure out what I was thinking. The kids and teachers at school will see they shouldn’t have messed with me. I’ll go out in a blaze of glory.”

In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of “explaining” them. I commended the policy at the Sun-Times, where our editor said the paper would no longer feature school killings on Page 1. The reporter thanked me and turned off the camera. Of course the interview was never used. They found plenty of talking heads to condemn violent movies, and everybody was happy.

—Roger Ebert

:thumbup:

cincybearcat

polaris_x wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

How so exactly?

I don;t think it could get much worse. Is it just the constant reminder? I would think that anywhere those poor mom's and dad's went would present constant reminders. I can;t even imagine it.

Yet, if my little girl felt like talking about what happened or talking about her friends that she lost, or the ones that survived with her, I think that I would let her. I'm sure those parents didn;t just let their kids tal to the media. I'm sure they talked to plenty of people to help.

they are harassing the family for interviews ... basically stalking them ... not leaving them alone ...

Ah, I see. I thought you meant just all the coverage. Thanks.

DewieCox

norm wrote:

Let me tell you a story. The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound bites to support it. “Wouldn’t you say,” she asked, “that killings like this are influenced by violent movies?” No, I said, I wouldn’t say that. “But what about ‘Basketball Diaries’?” she asked. “Doesn’t that have a scene of a boy walking into a school with a machine gun?” The obscure 1995 Leonardo Di Caprio movie did indeed have a brief fantasy scene of that nature, I said, but the movie failed at the box office (it grossed only $2.5 million), and it’s unlikely the Columbine killers saw it.

The reporter looked disappointed, so I offered her my theory. “Events like this,” I said, “if they are influenced by anything, are influenced by news programs like your own. When an unbalanced kid walks into a school and starts shooting, it becomes a major media event. Cable news drops ordinary programming and goes around the clock with it. The story is assigned a logo and a theme song; these two kids were packaged as the Trench Coat Mafia. The message is clear to other disturbed kids around the country: If I shoot up my school, I can be famous. The TV will talk about nothing else but me. Experts will try to figure out what I was thinking. The kids and teachers at school will see they shouldn’t have messed with me. I’ll go out in a blaze of glory.”

In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of “explaining” them. I commended the policy at the Sun-Times, where our editor said the paper would no longer feature school killings on Page 1. The reporter thanked me and turned off the camera. Of course the interview was never used. They found plenty of talking heads to condemn violent movies, and everybody was happy.

—Roger Ebert

I think movies and video games play a part in desensitizing kids to violence younger and younger, but no doubt the news media do more harm than good.

norm

chadwick

if i were a parent of a kid whom survived this, i thik i'd become the dad that didn't fuck around. i'd wanna protect my child(ren). in doing so i'd love to grab ahold of a camera and toss the bastard down the street.
calmly get my family into our car and be on our way. that is if they were stalking us outside our home or some shit.

seriously though... i can't wait to see a dad grab a camera and a reporter and shake em up a bit out of princible. news reporters get fucking old especially during events like this. i understand we need some reporting but god damn it seems as if it can be a fucking feeding frenzy though too.

shove a camera in a kids face askin questions; expect to get jacked upside the fuckin head... rule number 1

dimitrispearljam

so bad how media treat people..
they saying they doing their job...they could do it with more respect tho

chadwick

dimitrispearljam wrote:

so bad how media treat people..
they saying they doing their job...they could do it with more respect tho

yes... like how about let the town's people heal. load the fuck up & get out... the story has already been reported.

dimitrispearljam

chadwick wrote:

dimitrispearljam wrote:

so bad how media treat people..
they saying they doing their job...they could do it with more respect tho

yes... like how about let the town's people heal. load the fuck up & get out... the story has already been reported.

actually,im getting angry of how they making the profiles of the killer..
the first days they attack him,and then try to make him look as victim too

norm

Newtown, Connecticut continued to endure a crush of reporters on Tuesday, as its residents struggled with the aftermath of Friday's shooting. Many have expressed that they want the media to leave — and some journalists, it seems, feel the same way.

Twenty-six victims — including twenty children — were shot and killed in a horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday. The gunman also killed his mother before killing himself. The country watched with horror as the story broke and developed on Friday.

The tragic event has dominated news coverage, and brought scores of reporters to Newtown. Some residents have told reporters that the media attention is simply too much right now. Poynter compiled some of their reactions in a piece on Tuesday.

"Please tell them to just ease up," Teri Brunelli, a Newtown store owner, told reporter Adrienne LaFrance. "It happened and we're going through it. Just let it be for now."

The BBC's Jonny Dymond reported being told, "I know four or five of the families who lost kids and it's too much for them, with all the media here. What do you all want?"

Like some journalists, Dymond agreed with residents. "I have covered stories for 15 years in the field, some of the biggest, and have never seen anything like this, nor felt so uncomfortable about being part of it," he wrote, lamenting the "exceptionally heavy" media presence in Newtown. "After a while, you have to wonder what more there is to say," Dymond added.

Other members of the media have acknowledged the difficulty of covering the shooting, on a personal level, as well. CNN's Don Lemon reported from Newtown during Sunday night's vigil, where President Obama spoke. "I know it's my job but I hope it's ok to say I'm dreading this drive from hotel to Newtown to anchor on #CNN," Lemon tweeted. "Overwhelming sadness."

In interviews with the New York Times, CNN's Wolf Blitzer and "Good Morning America" executive producer Tom Cibrowski spoke out about the conflicts presented by such a tragic story.

The media has already come under much scrutiny for its reporting of the story. Television reporters were hotly criticized for interviewing eyewitnesses, many of whom were children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, right after the trauma of that morning.

Some, including Anderson Cooper, have refused to cross certain lines in their coverage. "In answer to your tweets, no, Of course i will not be interviewing children from the school," the CNN host tweeted on Friday. "I do not think that is appropriate at this time."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/1 ... mg00000041

polaris_x

the media is but a reflection of us ...

and therein lies who the real culprit is in this tragedy ... the people ... and their way of life ...

comebackgirl

The town and these families need space to heal. The story has been told. After a while they are just telling the same story over and over again from different angels and it starts to feel more like a movie than something that is happening to real families and real little kids. Some of the families may want to give interviews and share stories about their child as part of their healing; it's important that it be their choice and not something they're cajoled into doing. I respect the reporters that don't use the shooter's name or flash his picture over and over again; don't let him have the spotlight here. The professional part of me wants a better understanding of the factors that influenced the shooter so I have a better understanding of factors that might influence a risk assessment, but the human side of me wants any focus on him to be completely dropped.

JC29856

great comment..

"Journalists should be reporters not voyeurs," wrote another.

JimmyV

polaris_x wrote:

the media is but a reflection of us ...

and therein lies who the real culprit is in this tragedy ... the people ... and their way of life ...

Sad but true.