On Sun, Feb 14, 2010 at 12:16 AM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 14, 2010 at 12:04 AM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > All three networks showed the video on their evening newscasts (I think, > > properly). I have not watched the cable news channels over the weekend - > if > > they are showing it in heavy rotation that would be wrong - but using it > to > > tell one of the top stories of the day is different. > > How so? What is gained by televising a human being's death only one > time versus multiple times? > > I know this thread included a baseball analogy and even Conan > O'Brien's tumble on his (former) stage, but how about this: The people > who jumped from the Twin Towers before they collapsed. What was gained > by televising that once, let alone multiple times? > I actually never saw any of that coverage (I was traveling that day, and did not get to a television until several days later) so it is hard for me to comment on it. Journalist's job is to cover the news. Sometimes the news is tragic and disturbing. It is not the job of journalists to censor themselves when the events they are covering are disturbing. Obviously, market forces do pressure TV news to go beyond covering the story and exploit it to pimp ratings, and that happens a lot. But in this case, that has not happened. NBC showed the video (people keep saying "three times" as if it was excessive, but the footage is very brief, and happens very fast, and it requires multiple viewings to see what is going on). The evening news the next day showed it in running down the major stories. NBC has announced they will not be showing it again during the Olympic coverage, and I doubt other responsible newscasts will ever unless some other event happens to make it relevant. All of this seems responsible and appropriate. -- 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
