I don't defend the repeating of the video in question on late night talk shows or other entertainment shows. I have not seen any other coverage of this except for NBC's in the Opening Ceremonies. But NBC is covering the Olympics, at least in part as a news (and sports, which is part of news) event. When you are covering an event on television news and you have video of the event, you show it.
Imagine this: A pitcher is angry at a hitter who grandstanded after hitting a homerun. In the next at bat he throws at the hitter, hitting him in the head and killing him. I don't think you would see any network covering that game showing only computer generated animations of it. NBC did not sensationalize it, they did not hype it, they did not dwell on it. I thought they showed good judgment and restraint in covering a difficult story. I think the real temptation would have been for them to sacrifice their journalistic imperatives in the service of the extended "feel good" sentimentality that is the heart of what will drive viewership for the next 2 weeks, and I am glad they did not do that. On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 11:34 PM, David Bruggeman <[email protected]> wrote: > I think the decision was wrong, and likely due to an unnecessary (IMO) rush > to get a video story out. > > You couldn't jury rig a simulation clip? You had to watch the actual > injury? Show a clip of the curve in question and use a telestrator to point > out where he hit and went over. Maybe it would take a little time to put > together, but you can have a ticker notice or brief breaking news read to > address the main story (athlete dead in training run) and give the details > later. > > I don't agree about the baseball example, in part because I think it hard > to see a situation where showing the footage of getting hit in the head > would add significant information to the story. And I have a hard time > seeing any situation where that would actually be broadcast after the live > coverage of the game was halted. Same with those few unfortunate boxing > matches where a fighter died. > > I'm basing this next point off of watching various clips of sports and > related injuries shown on late night talk shows (Shawn White's recent face > plant was a minor scrape, but there was at least one X-Games style stunt on > Letterman that led to a more serious injury, Coco's head going bonk on the > studio floor), so I may be missing some relevant outlets. I do not recall > any footage of an athlete being injured that was shown without said person > (or host, in the case of Conan and his concussion) after they had recovered > from said injury. And these were events that were intended to be broadcast > live to tape. This man deserved no less. If the Georgian Olympic Committee > or other local authorities raise a stink, I won't blame them. > > In other words, mainstream media, don't be those police chase video shows. > -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
