AJR  Columns :     THE BUSINESS OF BROADCASTING    
From AJR,   January/February 1994

The War Against Television Reporters   

Physical attacks on TV crews are becoming commonplace.

By Lou Prato
Lou Prato is a former radio and television news director and a broadcast journalism professor at Penn State University.     


Covering news for local television is becoming hazardous. Reporters and camera crews are encountering an increasingly hostile public, and physical threats are becoming routine.

"We always thought we were like the Red Cross," says Jeff Wald, news director at KCOP in Los Angeles. "We were like a neutral party, welcomed by all sides. Not any more. Now, there's a lot of distrust."

Other news directors generally agree. "We are no longer the friendly ally of the general public," says Loren Tobia at KMTV in Omaha. "Our crews face situations every day that are threatening and sometimes dangerous. They get screamed at a lot and sometimes there's some pushing and shoving."

Peter Neumann of WEAR in Pensacola, Florida, says news sources are more aggressive than they were years ago. "People are more willing to grab the camera lens or jostle and push a reporter if they don't like something," he says.

These situations can sometimes turn violent. In suburban Louisville in March 1988 a car dealer became enraged when a WHAS news team began taping scenes of his lot. The dealer rushed across the street and slugged the reporter and cameraman, knocking the camera to the ground. The dealer then picked up a microphone and beat the cameraman with it.

Several New York TV crews were attacked while covering a disturbance in Brooklyn in May 1990. A reporter from WPIX was hurt and a crew from WABC was nearly electrocuted.

"Our reporter, Ed Miller, was hit by a brick or a rock and had to have plastic surgery," recalls John Corporon, news director at WPIX. "A Channel 7 microwave truck hit a high tension line while trying to get out of there... It's a miracle no one was killed.

"But we have problems nearly every day," he adds. Last "year we went into Washington Heights to cover a story and a group of rowdies came at the crew, pulled knives and wanted to take the equipment."

Corporon now hires bodyguards to escort his crews to areas where there might be trouble. But he and other news directors say they also give more discretion to their staff to leave potentially dangerous situations. "We ask them to try and check with the assignment desk first," he says, "but if they can't, just come out."

Omaha's Tobia has a similar policy. "Our crews make the call if they feel they are in danger," he says. "No questions asked."

Tom Doerr of WPLG in Miami recalls the day his crew pulled out in the middle of a live report on his newscast. They were in the Liberty City area trying to get public reaction to the trial of a police officer charged with killing a young black man. "Our reporter was saying on the air how the people were very angry we were there and were yelling and screaming at [us]," Doerr remembers. "They said they'd better leave and they quickly signed off, packed up and got the heck out of there."

There is no single explanation for increased public hostility, but news directors have several theories.

"It's very clear we reflect what's wrong with society," says Doerr. "People are frustrated about what's happening in their lives and they direct their anger at us. Many believe we're not balanced in our coverage and we paint a portrait of them and their community that's not accurate."

Rebecca Force, news director at KEZI in Eugene, Oregon, agrees. "People are feeling disenfranchised by the media and that their side of the story is not being told," she says.

Pensacola's Neumann believes tabloid journalism and the widespread use of hidden cameras, often for dubious reasons, has antagonized the public. "The average person is suspicious of what we are doing," he says. "Reporters and camera crews are seen as being aggressive and hostile to people they are doing stories on, and this is reinforced by the tabloid shows. There's a lot of guilt by association."

Tobia and Los Angeles' Wald say TV news is at least partially to blame for some of the animosity in the streets.

"The public's getting tired of reporters invading their privacy," Tobia says, "like when we stick the camera in the face of someone after an accident or shooting and ask them how they feel."

Wald says some newscasts are exploitative. "All it takes is one tabloid story that upsets law-abiding citizens to hurt the credibility of all of us," he says.

He also believes too many people in TV news don't have enough experience or knowledge of a community. "L.A. has many stations doing news," he says, "and it's so competitive that there are a lot of neophytes who get hired who don't understand the subtleties of this market."

How should stations deal with rising public antagonism? News directors say it's important for their staffs to maintain their professionalism and refuse to be intimidated. "There's always been too much tendency to blame the messenger," says Force. "All we can do is try to be fair in what we do." l

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