Should Media Work For Law Enforcement?

This one is still confounding me… should media, old or new, be whoring for the FBI? For example, broadcasting the demands of a cop killer jonesin’ to get on TV, as much of Georgia media did recently?

Doug Richards of WXIA and blogger at Live Apartment Fire has the post-mort boast-review of how it all went down here. Please read that first for critical background before answering the ‘ho question. Excerpt:

This guy won’t turn himself in unless he does it live on TV, because he’s afraid our guys will shoot him when he comes out of the house.  I need a TV crew to set up in front of the house, and feed a live picture to the other stations.

Immediately and emphatically, I said:   We’ll do it, Vernon.

I woke-up today with a firm no they should not on the matter. That could change by afternoon though. I know if I’d have been chosen to broadcast a cop killer… well, I’m a total weanie, and I wouldn’t have been anywhere near a scene like that to begin with, having had the thrill-crap scared out of me long long ago when working in TV journalism. So there. But…

What do you think?

Media Connection Ep. #1 – A Conversation With Tessa Horehled

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Ignore The Sunday Paper

Atlanta’s The Sunday Paper has a cover story that, in the print edition at least, bizarrely claims that “moderates are tuning out the partisan cable news networks.” A quick check to the Tuesday June 3rd (the very last primary night) viewing stats shows anything but such a whoppingly off base and densely-presented claim.

Guess these things can happen when you have print-minded people attempting to report about the broadcast media. Come to think about it, I have never met a single print political reporter who ever watched ANY political broadcast news in any form or fashion on a regular basis. Mostly, printees are so disdainful of the broadcast medium they tend to brag, yes brag, about how they never, ever watch TV news. Nor am I the only one to notice this disdain.

Careful if you see a The Sunday Paper cover claiming low voter turnout in ‘08.