When Will the First News Anchor Die?

I don't wish it upon any of them, but how far should the news channels go? Is it our fault or is it their's? On one hand, we stay up late glued to the tv to watch the coverage, while on the other hand, they know they need to get THE story from the eye of the storm to get us to watch.

How long will it take for a news anchor to die getting the cutting edge story covering the eye of the hurricane? Every station wants to have their people right in the middle but someday one of them will find themselves smack dab in the middle with no where to go. Is it worth it? Unfortunately, I think the news stations feel it is.

When you say New Anchor, seems to me Peter Jennings should fit that Bill.

What was my surprise he stayed on to almost his end..and died not all that much after he decided to go off air.

Dallas

I was contemplating starting a thread asking the same thing...I think they're taking a lot of risks to bring us this "disaster porn"

I meant trying to cover the story. Peter Jennings did not die as a result of a story.

Sorry I wasn't more clear.

Imagine the ratings!

I think that is why a lot of people watch things like hurricanes, auto races, and such. Being human, we have a morbid curiousity with death. I even admit that I watched the landing of the Jet Blue flight a couple of days ago just to see what would happen. I imagine that sooner or later, one of these news crews will get into a situation that is over their heads. There is a lot of stuff flying around due to the wind and lots of flooding. It's not worth loosing your life over though. I think that by now, everyone knows that there is a lot of rain and wind in these storms. Protest by not watching the news channels.

I know a couple died covering the U.S. Marines assault on Iraq. I think one was covering news for NBC and the other was either AP or ABC News. But I can't recall exactly which news organizations or the names of the lost newsmen.

Dallas

Originally posted by Dallas

I know a couple died covering the U.S. Marines assault on Iraq. I think one was covering news for NBC and the other was either AP or ABC News. But I can't recall exactly which news organizations or the names of the lost newsmen.

Dallas

You're absolutely right. I guess I was talking more about them covering storms in places where there are mandatory evacuations.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
"disaster porn"

Well said!

What a great term!

This post made me laugh because I was thinking the same thing. I have been laughing at this image in my head of a reporter suddenly being hit by a flying cow.

"Well David, as you can see, the wind is making it downright difficult to stand upright! I am right now very close to the eye of the hurr-- MOOOO [smash]..."

Seriously tho', let's take a closer look at the word "anchor". Now can we really say that TV news requires an "anchor"? It's all so much garbage and the talking heads are clearly empty heads, so what is to be anchored?

ATS is my news anchor. It's firmly affixed to the bottom of the ocean of human events.

[edit on 24-9-2005 by smallpeeps]

I'm suprised no one has brought this up yet... but this thread involves a slight gaff in termanology.

A news Anchor is someone who sits at the desk and presents all the stories... like Peter Jennings. They are like ringmasters really. They don't often go out into the field.

Reporters are the ones throwing themselves into harms way. It's an unfortunate artifact of the media industry that there is MASSIVE competition to get the story first, better, and closer than the next guy. Most of them are working with very limited resources and are trying to "crack" the industry by making names for themselves.

There is currently quite an uproar in the industy about this situation and the media guild is trying to find ways to keep reporters safer.

Should have seen it on Fark.com when Katrina hit. People were glued to the webcams. They had ParadeCam, BeadCam, etc., and were discussing things as they happened.

"Oops--there went BeadCam!"

"I miss ParadeCam!"