Someone, out there....

M

Margaret Pilkington

Beacon of light
Overlooker
Please, someone out there. tell me that I am not the only person who found the news coverage of the awful events in London yesterday, intrusive.

I know it was a media circus, but was it REALLY necessary to show us the poor unfortunate man being wheeled into a London hospital by the paramedics, with a Doctor perfoming cardiac compressions (heart massage)....the camera zoomed in and he was clearly identifiable.
I just hoped that his loved ones were spared that picture.

The news teams seemed like vultures....waiting to see who could show us the most shocking pictures.

OK....the news needs to be reported, but have we lost all sensitivity......?
 
the press are vultures margaret,and yes i would not like too have been that poor guys relative
 
I understand that showing the people who were victims in all this is kinda morbid and intrusive, but I don't think thats why the news stations show those images. To me they show them so we can understand the true horror and effect that these kinds of actions have on innocent people.
 
I believe that the media could be a little bit more reserved and keep the photography (video included) to a discreet distance. I think they don’t help matters when they ask stupid questions of people who have more important things to do.
 
g78 said:
I understand that showing the people who were victims in all this is kinda morbid and intrusive, but I don't think thats why the news stations show those images. To me they show them so we can understand the true horror and effect that these kinds of actions have on innocent people.
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I understand your point g78, but with 50 dead and many hundreds injured there can be nothing worse than identifying a loved one being carried out the back of an Ambulance on the telly. Our media have lacked any sense of decorum for many years.
 
the bottom line is g78 that the media are more interested in the next BIG scoop to sell papers than peoples sensitivity,if you had been on the wrong end of press sensationalism i think you may change your view.
 
cashman said:
the bottom line is g78 that the media are more interested in the next BIG scoop to sell papers than peoples sensitivity,if you had been on the wrong end of press sensationalism i think you may change your view.
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Do not presume what would or would not change my views.
 
I did not need to see the suffering of humanity......the sight of the bus with its roof peeled back was enough to make me understand what barbarity had taken place.
Don't the injured, the dying and the maimed have any right to dignity.......?
 
Not to mention the fact that their relatives should be spared the sight of someone they love in such a grave condition.
If a man were taken into A&E like that, in the normal course of events, do you really think they would be allowed to watch the attempts to resuscitate......it is bad enough to lose someone but to have their final moments captured on video as a 'newsworthy' event beggars human decency. I was stunned and appalled.
 
I have to agree that the insensitivity shown by the press worsens every time there is a disaster. It's all well and good reporting facts, that's their job, but it does seem like they try to play on people's grief. Video footage of the injuries should have been taken from a discrete distance. I'm sure that they have even more shocking coverage that they are not permitted to show. No doubt this footage will end up on the internet, as these things do tend to leak out.

Was it not Lord Reith, the first director general of the BBC, who in about 1926 said that their purpose was to 'inform, entertain and educate.' There are ways of informing and educating without using shock tactics and intruding on people's grief in their darkest hours...
 
Margaret Pilkington said:
If a man were taken into A&E like that, in the normal course of events, do you really think they would be allowed to watch the attempts to resuscitate......
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It contravenes all patient confidentiality which medical and nursing staff work so hard to protect.
 
I agree, and the fact that my newspaper this morning had 33 pages of pictures before it got to any other story, I also found distasteful.
 
i think its right to cover the story but the ammount of coverage it is getting is ridiculous

yes it was awfull but the terrorists and their supporters are been given free publicity 24 hours a day at the moment and must be cheering every time its shown on tv

also dragging poor soles who have just been bandaged up and in shock before a tv camera and asking them to re live the whole thing is pretty insesitive
 
Sadly all though we need news coverage, the media does seem to 'delight' if that is the right word, in blanket coverage sensationalist news.

I agree with the showing over and over of the poor souls being wheeled into hospital was in poor taste, especially while people yesterday were still at a loss to find out what had happened to loved ones.
 
I am not complaining about the story being covered Chav.......I just feel that it could have been done to afford more privacy and dignity to those who had been killed.

do these news teams not have families....? I think some of the film coverage was very intrusive.
 
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Margaret Pilkington said:
I am not complaining about the story being covered Chav.......I just feel that it could have been done to afford more privacy and dignity to those who had been killed.

do these news teams not have families....? I think some of the film coverage was very intrusive.
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I was watching the six o’clock on the BBC. Seeing these people of all cultures looking for loved ones was very distressing. I hope that by highlighting their stories these people may be found alive, maybe there’s a chance that some of them maybe dazed or confused by the experience Although I would doubt it 30 plus hours on. I don’t know why we need to concentrate on the grief of these people; all they want is to see loved ones again.
 
I am not a 'bleeding heart' type of person.......I worked as a nurse for nigh on 30 years and saw many harrowing sights.......I don't feel that the public is served well by this kind of journalism, which relies heavily on the fact that gruesome stuff grabs the punter.
 
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We live in the media age.

CCTV, mobile cam phones, small video cameras.

I must admit although fascinating to watch the horror of the immediate moments after the exposion on the tube on the news, l did wonder at the motive of the person who thought to film it. I hope the clip was given to the news agencies and not sold.
 
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I can't imagine ever being in that situation and actually thinking of getting my phone out for any other reason than to contact my loved ones to say I was ok. I have to admit that I suffer terribly from morbid curiosty and was glued to the news reports but even I thought to show some of the pictures was out of order
 
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