Just The Facts Please
Feb. 15th, 2022 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanA terrible accident the other day took the life of the pilot of a fire-fighting helicopter in Tasmania. No one can dispute it's a tragedy & all thoughts are with the pilot's family & friends...
But it was also an opportunity for one of my most hated journalistic trends to have another run:-
A man in Tasmania's north-east says he heard a bang before seeing a firefighting helicopter "go down" in a crash which claimed the life of an experienced pilot
The 41-year-old pilot was the only person on board the helicopter when it crashed into a paddock while fighting a bushfire north of Lebrina. Several other helicopters assisting in the firefighting efforts have been grounded since the crash.
Local man Michael McKenna said he was working in his shed when the incident happened.
"I heard this big bang, something wasn't right," he said. "I got to the corner of the house and I saw the helicopter go down."
Mr McKenna said it took a few minutes before the helicopter was engulfed in flames.
"Unfortunately, no-one could really help him. He had no chance," he said.
Why the fuck do we need to have Michael McKenna in the story at all?!?!? He's not a firefighter, he's not a pilot, he's not an aerospace engineer who specialises in helicopter design... he's a bloke who was doing who-cares-what in a shed, heard a bang & saw someone die in a helicopter crash. His in-depth analysis, apparently vital to the story? "... something wasn't right..." Well, geez, thanks Mick for your expertise there, can we snap a photo of you, since they won't let us photograph the crash site close up? Good on ya!!
I... & I'd like to think I'm not alone... don't need some gormless bystander's vague re-telling of the facts we already know. Especially since a lot of the people they get for reports like this, weren't even there when whatever it was happened - they were in their house next door/down the street/2 streets away... Or those ones where a terrible crime has been committed & they ask the neighbour what the perpetrator or victim(s) were like as neighbours. Who the fuck cares!?!? As if the rubbernecking busybody is going to say "Yeah I saw Dave walking into the house with a gun/axe/chainsaw... something wasn't right"
'Vox Pops' - as I believe these pointless 'interviews' are called, inevitably led to the incident in Australia known as the Chk-Chk Boom Girl - a woman who, when asked what she'd seen of a streetfight, made up a story complete with stereotypes & bad accents. When it was rapidly proved to be complete bullshit, she tried to use her 'fame' as a springboard to a music career... I'm pleased to report it failed... & her 15 seconds of fame now only lives on YouTube. But in the best pop-will-eat-itself tradition, even this non-story was milked over a week or so as a 'story', long after the actual fight was forgotten
This is the modern world??
But it was also an opportunity for one of my most hated journalistic trends to have another run:-
A man in Tasmania's north-east says he heard a bang before seeing a firefighting helicopter "go down" in a crash which claimed the life of an experienced pilot
The 41-year-old pilot was the only person on board the helicopter when it crashed into a paddock while fighting a bushfire north of Lebrina. Several other helicopters assisting in the firefighting efforts have been grounded since the crash.
Local man Michael McKenna said he was working in his shed when the incident happened.
"I heard this big bang, something wasn't right," he said. "I got to the corner of the house and I saw the helicopter go down."
Mr McKenna said it took a few minutes before the helicopter was engulfed in flames.
"Unfortunately, no-one could really help him. He had no chance," he said.
Why the fuck do we need to have Michael McKenna in the story at all?!?!? He's not a firefighter, he's not a pilot, he's not an aerospace engineer who specialises in helicopter design... he's a bloke who was doing who-cares-what in a shed, heard a bang & saw someone die in a helicopter crash. His in-depth analysis, apparently vital to the story? "... something wasn't right..." Well, geez, thanks Mick for your expertise there, can we snap a photo of you, since they won't let us photograph the crash site close up? Good on ya!!
I... & I'd like to think I'm not alone... don't need some gormless bystander's vague re-telling of the facts we already know. Especially since a lot of the people they get for reports like this, weren't even there when whatever it was happened - they were in their house next door/down the street/2 streets away... Or those ones where a terrible crime has been committed & they ask the neighbour what the perpetrator or victim(s) were like as neighbours. Who the fuck cares!?!? As if the rubbernecking busybody is going to say "Yeah I saw Dave walking into the house with a gun/axe/chainsaw... something wasn't right"
'Vox Pops' - as I believe these pointless 'interviews' are called, inevitably led to the incident in Australia known as the Chk-Chk Boom Girl - a woman who, when asked what she'd seen of a streetfight, made up a story complete with stereotypes & bad accents. When it was rapidly proved to be complete bullshit, she tried to use her 'fame' as a springboard to a music career... I'm pleased to report it failed... & her 15 seconds of fame now only lives on YouTube. But in the best pop-will-eat-itself tradition, even this non-story was milked over a week or so as a 'story', long after the actual fight was forgotten
This is the modern world??
(no subject)
Date: 2022-02-15 05:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-02-15 11:43 am (UTC)News doesn't have to be just dry police reports, but there must be other ways of making stories relatable... I just don't see the point of making a news story needlessly longer by having some guy in a singlet & shorts describe how he didn't actually see anything, but was nearby enough to have allegedly 'heard' it happen...
(no subject)
Date: 2022-02-15 01:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-02-16 10:41 pm (UTC)Construction worker Jason Kahles arrived at the Ronkonkoma station a few hours after the shooting, only to find that his 4:40 a.m. train had been assigned to a different track than usual.
"Then I noticed the yellow tarp, and I was like, ‘Oh, boy. Something happened,'" said Kahles, 44, of Middle Island, referencing a tarp that was hung on the train’s doors to block the view of the crime scene.
Kahles took a couple photos of the train, including one in which "you can see that there’s blood on the floor." [Note his photos were NOT included with the article.]
He said the situation was "a little concerning," but added that he generally felt safe traveling to and from Ronkonkoma station during the early-morning hours.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-02-17 08:03 pm (UTC)The excuse is that interviewing people gives the story a more human, relatable feel, but really? Some person gets their face on TV for 20 seconds for no reason of any value & we, the viewer are no wiser, or better off than we would have been without their 'input'
It's just a grown up version of those kids who wave & carry on at the cameras when a sports player is being interviewed after a game... "Hey Mum! I was on TV!! Did you see me?!?"