I was truly aggravated this evening to be shown over and over a sobbing relative of the military personnel lost in Iraq yesterday.
When did someone decide that it was appropriate to intrude on these people in their time of grief? What makes the TV stations feel that it's NEWS to tightly focus on a woman who has just lost her son? Why do they send reporters out to stand on the lawn and comment on the serviceman's home?
I just don't understand this approach to news. I think it stinks! If they are newsworthy, then approach them in a few weeks, when they have had a chance to deal with the first rush of loss. Don't push your way into their homes and harass them in the hope of raising your ratings. Both network news and local news ought to be more circumspect. We don't need our newsrooms sinking to the level of a Jerry Springer show.
If the families are newsworthy, give them time to grieve, and then make a podium available to them. Otherwise you're exploiting them.
Comments (7)
I thought the very same thing last night!
Posted by bogie | November 4, 2003 5:44 AM
Posted on November 4, 2003 05:44
Sorry to say, but journalist are on the whole low-life. They may start with noble intentions, but the business soon knocks it out of them
Posted by Pob | November 4, 2003 12:20 PM
Posted on November 4, 2003 12:20
How is somebodies pain and suffering news? I'm not buying it.
Posted by Sgt Hook | November 4, 2003 12:41 PM
Posted on November 4, 2003 12:41
Um, that should be "somebody's." Where's my coffee???
Posted by Sgt Hook | November 4, 2003 12:41 PM
Posted on November 4, 2003 12:41
Don'tcha just hate it when you hit send....and realize there's an error? Occasionally I type the sound and not the word, and you know a spell check program isn't going to catch it.
Make it strong! If the day is starting this way, you're gonna need it!
Posted by Buffy | November 4, 2003 1:09 PM
Posted on November 4, 2003 13:09
Sensationalism sells. Ask P.T.Barnum.
Other than that, I think I know where to put their microphones. Then somebody else can report on THEIR pain and suffering.
Posted by Wichi Dude | November 5, 2003 6:15 PM
Posted on November 5, 2003 18:15
If grieving parents, spouses, children, and friends were matters of nightly news coverage in millions of homes every night during World War II, I suspect that we would all be speaking German today.
Can you imagine CNN and the Today show the day after Tarawa or Anzio?
Posted by Parkway Rest Stop | November 6, 2003 5:27 AM
Posted on November 6, 2003 05:27