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Charlotte Protests/Riot Coverage


CalItalian2

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I have never seen Charlotte tv before. I've been through a number of riots. I thought MOST of their stations handled their coverage very poorly especially WSOC-TV.

 

I thought the best station was WCCB. Extended coverage until 11:30 PM EDT. Had 3 reporters live in the thick of things. Had local leaders on their set. I thought they were the most professional on the air.

 

WJZY coverage was very odd. They were broadcasting live online the 2 reporters they had in Uptown Charlotte talking about the set up for their live shot rather than the on-air live stream (for a while).

 

WSOC announced on the air they had ordered their reporters back to the station. Only the Chopper was in the air to show anything live (but no chopper reporter?). What kind of a news organization is that? Shameful. Not worthy of serving the community. But they sure loved to air their local ad breaks. Never missed a beat.

 

All of the local stations were saying for at least a 1/2 an hour or more after the cable news channels had backtracked that the individual shot was not dead but was on life support. I'd think in a local market they should have the connections to know that important fact first.

 

All the stations continued to air local commercials. Something I just wouldn't see in a market like mine, Los Angeles.

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I have never seen Charlotte tv before. I've been through a number of riots. I thought MOST of their stations handled their coverage very poorly especially WSOC-TV.

 

I thought the best station was WCCB. Extended coverage until 11:30 PM EDT. Had 3 reporters live in the thick of things. Had local leaders on their set. I thought they were the most professional on the air.

 

WJZY coverage was very odd. They were broadcasting live online the 2 reporters they had in Uptown Charlotte talking about the set up for their live shot rather than the on-air live stream (for a while).

 

WSOC announced on the air they had ordered their reporters back to the station. Only the Chopper was in the air to show anything live (but no chopper reporter?). What kind of a news organization is that? Shameful. Not worthy of serving the community. But they sure loved to air their local ad breaks. Never missed a beat.

 

All of the local stations were saying for at least a 1/2 an hour or more after the cable news channels had backtracked that the individual shot was not dead but was on life support. I'd think in a local market they should have the connections to know that important fact first.

 

All the stations continued to air local commercials. Something I just wouldn't see in a market like mine, Los Angeles.

 

 

I thought WBTV was doing a decent job. They didn't go to commercial and kept their reporters in the field

WSOC-TV said their coverage would continue until Midnight but at 11:35 PM EDT, their website just started showing a repeat of the 11 PM news.

 

WCCB anchor kept complaining that the mayor was nowhere to be seen or heard (no Twitter activity, not in Uptown Charlotte). Later, she came back and said she was on the national news channels but not local. Then the mayor came on shortly after that and complained and said that she had been on other local broadcasts.

WSOC announced on the air they had ordered their reporters back to the station. Only the Chopper was in the air to show anything live (but no chopper reporter?). What kind of a news organization is that? Shameful. Not worthy of serving the community.

 

Sounds like one that isn't interested in seeing its reporters/photographers get hurt and/or killed.

Sounds like one that isn't interested in seeing its reporters/photographers get hurt and/or killed.
They should be doing their job for the community, reporting inside the riots. I don't recall reporters in the 60's in Vietnam or even more recently in Iraq being pulled back to the "station" for safety.
Thanks. I don't understand why their live link from their homepage directed to the helicopter shot, though. Their coverage did look good and at least they had 4 crews still out reporting at 12 midnight EDT.
They should be doing their job for the community, reporting inside the riots. I don't recall reporters in the 60's in Vietnam or even more recently in Iraq being pulled back to the "station" for safety.

 

They're covering it from the air. Is there really that much added value in being on the ground when it could means one of your crews gets seriously injured in the melee?

They should be doing their job for the community, reporting inside the riots. I don't recall reporters in the 60's in Vietnam or even more recently in Iraq being pulled back to the "station" for safety.

Considering that members of the media were attacked most recently during the Milwaukee protests, and that most of these protestors LOVE to get attention, I can't blame them for calling their reporters back in.

 

This isn't the 1960s. People nowadays are trying to get their 15 minutes of fame, and they know they can achieve it by going after the media. Despite most media personnel trying to do their job and focus on reporting the protests, they're getting dragged into this shit more often than not. The last thing you want is any of your personnel to be seriously injured or killed while reporting on these protests. There were reports of a man in critical condition from a gunshot wound, done by another civilian. That could have easily been a member of the media. In instances like this, the chopper does just a good of a job as ground reporters.

 

Edit: Not 100% up to speed, but wasn't there an incident involving a CNN reporter and a protestor?

I've been watching Brian Williams but at the top of the hour I put on BBC World News. I think the BBC producers were expecting a gimbal helicopter shot but for a minute or two all that appeared on screen was an an interior camera positioned around where the seat would be pointed out the window.

Considering that members of the media were attacked most recently during the Milwaukee protests, and that most of these protestors LOVE to get attention, I can't blame them for calling their reporters back in.

 

This isn't the 1960s. People nowadays are trying to get their 15 minutes of fame, and they know they can achieve it by going after the media. Despite most media personnel trying to do their job and focus on reporting the protests, they're getting dragged into this shit more often than not. The last thing you want is any of your personnel to be seriously injured or killed while reporting on these protests. There were reports of a man in critical condition from a gunshot wound, done by another civilian. That could have easily been a member of the media. In instances like this, the chopper does just a good of a job as ground reporters.

 

Edit: Not 100% up to speed, but wasn't there an incident involving a CNN reporter and a protestor?

Yes, a CNN reporter was rushed into and pushed down hard.

 

There is NO excuse for a station to leave the area of local breaking news of incredible importance to the community. NONE. This is probably the biggest story of the year in Charlotte. No other station in Charlotte but WSOC-TV brought all their reporters back to the station. What kind of operation does that?

They're covering it from the air. Is there really that much added value in being on the ground when it could means one of your crews gets seriously injured in the melee?
You obviously have never been in a riot. You can NOT get the same view of a riot - the sense & scenes of the crowd - from their air as you can on the ground. PERIOD.
Yes, a CNN reporter was rushed into and pushed down hard.

 

There is NO excuse for a station to leave the area of local breaking news of incredible importance to the community. NONE. This is probably the biggest story of the year in Charlotte. No other station in Charlotte but WSOC-TV brought all their reporters back to the station. What kind of operation does that?

But that's the thing. If the chopper is in the air, covering the protests, then they did not leave the area. The news is still being covered, just from another method. Ground reporting would be ideal, but the circumstances right now are not.

But that's the thing. If the chopper is in the air, covering the protests, then they did not leave the area. The news is still being covered, just from another method. Ground reporting would be ideal, but the circumstances right now are not.
Wasn't a problem for any of the other stations but WSOC-TV. They had a better perspective of the riot. What's the use of having a helicopter without a reporter, either?
Wasn't a problem for any of the other stations but WSOC-TV. They had a better perspective of the riot. What's the use of having a helicopter without a reporter, either?

Well, WSOC's brass made the call to bring their staff in, that's what they feel is appropriate for them. I can't question their decision making process as i'm not there. As far as the chopper, not having a reporter up there could be due to a variety of reasons: Maybe there wasn't a reporter available, it could be a question of liability, or their helicopter contract does not allow a station employee to fly in the helicopter.

It's a bit sad that MSNBC has a security consultants with their crews. It makes sense given the history of violence against media in prior riots.
Local stations should have, as well. I saw the reporters discussing their live shot on WJZY in the 10 PM EDT hour. They were not in any danger.

 

I was in the middle of the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. You can not get the same perspective of reporting just watching from the air. In the air, you'd never know that all they were out to do in the area I was in was to loot (and they were happy not angry). It wasn't for any cause.

I can completely understand stations pulling back their crews. It may not be good for reporting perspective but from an accounting prospective it makes sense. Even with insurance if an employee gets injured (or worst) or equipment gets damaged it would affect the bottom line.

 

I remember during Baltimore I believe one WJZ reporter was pepper sprayed twice.

 

Helicopters are indispensable during these events. Reporters and cameras on the ground can only show you a limited perspective. If I remember correctly during Baltimore WBAL and WJZ mainly used helicopter shots with the reporters on the ground doing a VO or there was two box. WMAR and WBFF were significantly hampered in their reporting because they couldn't show the full scope or respond quickly enough to situations in different areas. Instead they had to rely on the pooled chopper feed from DC that Newsource provided them with no control on the shots. (I will add that the DC choppers were used and would stay on scene by WBAL and WJZ if they were in a different area and stayed in the area during refueling/switching of crews).

 

Does WSOC have a helicopter reporter (or why not have their aerial photojournalist do it) or is it a pilot/reporter situation?

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