Gory TV coverage

[David Moisan <dmoisan@shore.net>]

At 02:34 PM 5/1/98 -0400, you wrote:

>This has, in the hours since, become the big topic in Southern California.
> Several journalism professors have expressed outrage, while others,
> both in and out of the industry, noted that because this incident was
> being broadcast live, there was no way that the chase was going to end
> this way.

Such short memories.  No one remembers the former state treasurer in
Pennsylvania (R. Budd Dwyer) who blew his brains out during his own press
conference after he had been indicted.  (About 9 years ago if I recall.)
Yes, everything was shown as it happened.  And people called the station
afterwards not out of outrage, but to find out if it would be aired again
unedited.  (National networks and CNN edited out the actual shot, while CBS
radio aired the audio--screams and a gunshot--uncut.)

Not having seen the footage, the director was probably transfixed.  It's
also true that events like this happen very quickly.  I couldn't say what
it means to the republic, since this kind of outrage seems to happen after
every event like this.  Perhaps the professors are asking the wrong
questions.  (People should not whine about all the bodies coming down the
river, if they aren't willing to swim upstream to find out why.)

>Live TV coverage of police chases seems to be a staple of Los Angeles
> television. I wonder if such live broadcasting might now be curtailed
> as a result of yesterday's events.

No.  That same question was asked after Dwyer killed himself.  Have things
changed?  No.  And curtailed by whom?  Certainly the FCC is not going to
touch this, they didn't before.  This is solely the discretion of a
station's news director.  

If this had happened in Boston,  I might imagine WCVB not replaying all the
footage.  WHDH?  They would have Dan Hausle do a standup with the corpse,
if they could.  Only if viewers were really upset would that make a
difference.  

But--we both know this--the number and density of televised violent events
on the news is so high that this will be completely forgotten in a very
short time.  Who but me remembered the Dwyer incident?
 
Dave

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