Do you think TV reporters are insensitive??

[wind149]

Whoopie Goldberg brought up a good point on the View today. While I don't watch the show on a regular basis she hit on something that I have been pondering for a long time. Glen Frye wrote the song "Dirty Laundry" which is about reporters and how they can tell you "about a plane crash with a gleam in her eye" Since technology has come full circle on reporting the news I am always dismayed at some the insensitivity of some reporters. Case in point. The Virginia Tech tragedy. This was the worst mass murder case in this country and for days afterward I was appalled at some of the questions asked by these morons to the shell shocked students, teachers, and residents of the town. Questions like did you see your classmates get mowed down? Was there a lot of blood? Your room mate was killed and did you get to see her body? Even Larry King disgusted me when he asked a bunch of kids who survived how they felt and did they see a lot of blood, how do you feel about the shooter, did you know him? But the worst offender was MSNBC. They almost wet themselves when they received the package from Cho with all his violent propaganda and him posing with the murder weapons and apparently only had a minute of decency and to lord it over the other networks made the decision to air this the DAY AFTER the murders. Traumatized the ones that survived, the families of the ones that didn't and certainly should have never been aired at all. Today, Whoopie brought up the fact of how annoyed she is with reporters at the scenes of the horrific fires in CA. I agree with her totally. They are interviewing grief stricken people who have lost everything and asking them, how do you feel? How does it feel to see your house burned down to a pile of ash? And they always have to out-do each other and see how close they can come to the danger zone like they always do in hurricanes and floods. One moron I saw last night on ABC, was talking with a woman who lost everything and had only left with the clothes on her back and she was looking for her cat who had panicked and before she could get him in the carrier he ran. The boob says to her, well there isn't much left around here and earlier I saw some deal deer!! ARGHHHH!!! Now was that sensitive or what? Same moron drones on and on about the high winds and how many more houses he thinks are gonna burn, and how it looks to him to be a losing battle. People are hoping their homes will be alright and don't need this jerk to bring them down. And of course the dumb questions always have to arise. Moron asked a fire fighter how has it been to fight this fire??? How tired are you? How many people do you think have died and you have not found their bodies?? Come on this is disgusting! I remember in 1987 my rented home burned to the ground. Later found to be arson. Some reporter from our local paper has the balls to ask me and my neighbor how we feel?? He found out on live feed just how we did. Those poor kids from VT, were too polite to tell the reporters to get lost and I listened to a lot of insensitive blather during the week it was front page and front stage. One talking head from CNN really burned me up when she asked a student who had been injured how he felt that he might lose his leg?? How in hell do you think he feels??? About the only time I felt the media was a god-send and not a nuisance was during the Katrina nightmare. I was actually impressed in how they actually were the ones helping folks when the moron mayor, governor, and GW were just thanking each other for a job well done. Anderson Cooper is a class act and really helped many people and he is the exception of reporters. When the bridge collapsed in MN. Here again reporters and their feeding frenzy in asking stupid questions. Did you see people fall off the bridge? How many do you think are dead? Oh, you were trapped in your car, did you think you were going to die? Did you see any bodies??? Do you think the construction had anything to do with the collapse, yeah, two hours afterward, that question was put forth. I just wish they would think before showing up at a scene, and panning their cameras to dead bodies, blood in a classroom, and other sights we do not need to see. I have to admit during 911 they actually were somewhat subdued and did not show pictures of people jumping off the towers for at least a year or two as no family member wants to see that. I have written to CNN about their coverages and basically got this blase e-mail informing me the public had a right to know and the freedom of speech crap. SO I am interested in what you guys have to say about this.

[cildawg1]

I think that there is definitely a lot of sensationalization in the news. But the coverage of the California fires isn't bothering me. It's a huge story. (But I have to admit that I've changed the station quite a few time.) The Virginia Tech coverage didn't bother me because I felt that there was a lot of interest there. It was a valid story.

On the other hand, I hated the coverage of Anna Nicole Smith. It seems to me that the reporters are looking for any unflattering photograph they can find of her. Anything they can drag us is fair game. Any distant relative, they'll interview and take their word as Gospel. They won't let the woman and her son rest in peace. And that crying judge epitomized everything that was wrong. There he was trying to capitalize on her death by crying and acting like an idiot. Yeah, I vote for Anna Nicole Smith as the most abused news story out there.

[wind149]

I did not even think to post about ANS. I guess my point was that they just need to sit back and think before it comes out of their heads. Yes, we did need to be informed as to what happened at VT, but days of the time lines, and the cell phone video where you can hear him shooting the guns. By about the 3rd day it was getting old fast. How many more times did we need to hear the blow-by -blow minute to minute? We all know by that point he has killed 32 people, was a very troubled man and one thing I will agree with the media on was the response time of the college itself. Sending out a text message that a gunman was on campus, (the first round) and just stay where you are. Pretty lame of the college to do just that and not err on the side of caution and lock the campus down. But in the end it was Cho's fault and I wish he had not done the coward's way out, but don't all these mass murderers do? As for ANS, it just got sickening after awhile. The woman was a bimbo, has-been Playmate, a mediocre reality TV personality, notice I did not say star? and she died of a drug over dose. Big surprise there. Geez, every interview she gave after her son died, she was so wasted HKS had to prop her up, she slurred her words, she was flying on something. And then the whole drama of who was the baby's Daddy. Sheesh, every night on NG, I lost respect for her during the ANS debacle, it was over and over again as to who could be the Daddy. Who gave her the drugs? Why was she on methadone? It was a tragic her son died young, but here again, who gave him methadone?? At least Dannielynn has a shot at a normal life. When she is older maybe by then the life and death of her mother will not media fodder and re-hashed. And then let's not forget the other hot story, Chris Benoit, He killed his family hopped up on steroids, hard to feel any sympathy for a man who took them willingly. He is a murderer and another one who took the coward way out. But Oh, no, media spun this one out for months. And the Madeline McCann disappearance is getting way too much air time. I believe her parents had something to do with it and that is all I am going to say at this point. But I am glad you see where I am coming from on this. We do need to know what is going on in the world as far as our security, natural disasters affecting the US, anything that could be hazardous to our health ,but do we need a constant barrage of what the hell Britney wore last night, who is preggers in Hollyweird? And they have to stop and think before they leap.

[WarmNCozy]

As a mother of a son in San Diego in the path of these dangerous fires and his having been evacuated with one of those reverse 911 calls that recorded that he leave within the next 5 to 10 minutes, he relied on the news to know if his home was destroyed. And I kept track when not on the phone with him by using the media, in particular FOXNEWS in San Diego! I got reports of houses destroyed, neighborhoods in peril, where the fire was, and the news that some arsonist was starting further fires, if not all of them, time will tell about that guy!

That is their job to tell the news! I saw a piece where a journalist was watching his own home go down in flames in front of his eyes, and was a professional throughout the piece! I don't know if I could have reported on something so personal and remained professional!

[wind149]

Warm I feel for you, I do totally. I agree we do need to be kept informed and right after I posted this I found out that a man has died out there and he is originally from here and his son has been seriously burned. My point I guess was just to light on what I think is insensitivity on their parts with some of the questions they ask of victims. Everyone is being affected by this, CA is part of us as we are all Americans here and I am glad they are keeping us up to speed and I pray for all those people being affected. Last week as I posted, a week ago to be exact we had several horrific tornadoes hit here in MI. I was lucky and my county escaped the true wrath but only 30 miles or so from me, people were not so lucky. Six people died across the state and all of the local reporters were professional, they did not ask stupid questions of the victims. They could see for themselves how bad the people felt. Everyone I am sure, saw the one family from Tuscola County where the baby was blown right out of the house and luckily was not injured. They were on the Today Show and Good Morning America. I just object to some of the questions they ask of victims, like they have to already know these poor folks in that firestorm out there are seriously affected by it. It is terrible to see the burned out homes, and the fires are so intense. Mother Nature sometimes gives us more than we can bear. Right after Katrina, severe floods hit NH and I had several friends affected. Five of them lost everything they owned. All I could do was try to comfort them, see the horrific coverage of towns I had lived in under all that water. Seven people died as a result of the floods and it broke my heart. My intention here was certainly not to diminish the good some reporters do but to ask if you all think sometimes they go too far.

[Athena]

I think reporters reporting on crisis situations such as the fires in CA, or the coverage we received on 9/11 is informational and necessary.

However, when it comes to personal crisis; someone's loved one is killed for an example they show extreme insensitivity when it comes to the families. When they stick microphones and cameras in front of someone grieving and ask them how they feel -- that has to be the most insensitive and it happens all the time. How the He!! do they think they feel?

During the VA tech massacre I thought they were giving way too much time focusing on Cho when the grieving was so raw. They calmed down a bit when the families started to refuse interviews as a result. While I find it interesting to examine the mind of a killer such as Cho was, it was inappropriate that they focused on him so much in the beginning rather than the victims of this tragedy. I even wrote every single station I could stating that and so did alot of other people and they did start concentrating on the backgrounds of the victims and rightfully so. JMHO

[packy]

I agree it's some of the questions they ask sometimes that blow me away. Maybe if they would qualify the questions with statements that show more sensitivity. Maybe something like, "We know this is _______, but hearing it straight from you gives it even more understanding as to just how it truly _____ it is and so on.

I believe it does help to humanize victims of tragedies/crimes when we see and hear them rather than just hear about them, but how it's handled seems to impact some of us more than what they are trying to supposedly convey.

I'm trying to give them an out to cover any idea that it's mainly for sensationalism you see. Hmmmm.

No excuses for those who appear ti convict and demonize someone before they even have a trial though.

[wind149]

This is what I was talking about. The Virginia Tech tragedy was made more tragic when every network was showing Cho and the guns that killed all those people and the first night they showed those horrific tapes, I called CNN screaming. I thought also that they should have left the kids alone, they were all in shock, pain, they lost friends and in some cases family and here comes the bubble headed bleach blond from CNN asking how they feel and did you see anything? Oh you did? Was there a lot of blood? Did you see Cho kill himself? Oh your room mate was hit? Is she going to make it? This what I object to. It was way to soon like a couple hours at best after the massacre, that the reporters started swarming like a hive of angry bees. We did need to be informed of this, but not the constant barrage of listening to that cell phone where you clearly heard gun shots, the kids all milling about crying, the victims being carried out of the buildings. I did not need to see that and neither did my god-son because he had some heavy duty questions for me as I was babysitting that day and I explained to him there are evil people in this world and then he says to me that we did not need to see the blood and that was icky and I agreed. The CA wildfires have dwindled down, but the aftershock from that is still being felt. 2,000 plus homes burned, and while some reporters were still being total tools, there were a few that did not ask survivors how they felt and one reporter from Fox actually offered to take care of an elderly woman's dog and that touched me, so she gets an A+ from me. The woman's home was burned to the ground in one of the fires that was deemed arson and to think some people are twisted enough to start these horrible fires just when the Santa Ana winds start blowing that by themselves can start fires from the sheer warmth of the winds and all the dry tinder out there. They need the death penalty. So I am glad some of you saw where I was going with this and understand that I was not lumping every reporter in one basket, that there are some decent ones.