this evening as my family and i were watching tv, a reporter, i dont remember on what channel, was live on air with people who had not heard from their relatives for more than 2 days(they were in the world trade center at the time of the attack). the point of the whole segment, i suppose, was to give family members a chance to tell the public of their missing loved ones, and ask for their help in finding them. i say suppose because i only caught approximately the last two minutes of that particular segment.
what caught my eye was how the reporter-im not sure her name, or even what channel this was on-was in tears as she was talking to the victims families. i told my family that i thought that looked rediculous and very unprofessional. my family attacked me saying “wouldnt you be crying if you were that reporter”, “you cant expect her just because shes doing her job, to not show emotion”…“imagine what she feels”.
i agreed to a certain extent with how it is ok to show emotion but why was this the only reporter who i saw crying on air? surely other journalists felt the same way and witnessed the same things, so i just think it looked very unprofessional and outright strange. also i think it was of no comfort to those being interviewed to have your actual reporter crying hearing your story. i mean, empathy is great, im a huge fan, but i dont think that made those people feel any better.
comments, replies? other media questions?
Don’t know if it was the same reporter, but Elizabeth Cohen from CNN has been interviewing people who have photos of missing people. She’s broken down a couple of times. Not hysterical, but definitely crying. (And definitely not faking it for the camera.)
FWIW she’s not a reporter per se, she usually does medical segments. I’d imagine she rarely does live interviews, if ever. (Maybe she was one of the few people CNN had available in New York.)
Cut her (and everyone in the media) some slack. She’s literally surrounded by death and people with missing loved ones. And she’s been interviewing them all day. I saw one segment from beginning to end. At first she had maybe three or four people with pictures. By the end there were DOZENS. All desperately wanting to talk to her.
You actually think she should be “professional” and remove herself emotionally? Do you think the people being interviewed would rather talk to a soulless mannequin who says a few trite words and then moves on?
Your family was right to attack you.
im not sure if it was the same lady but thank you for your reply
I think that it is good for people to see the humanism of the reporters. So often we malign the media for being too professional when dealing with people after a tragedy. It’s good to see that everyone was affected by this, not just the families and friends of the victims. The whole country is grieving for the senseless loss of these people.
I’ve been watching ABC’s national coverage (not the local reporters) and I must say that I am very impressed. The first night (the 11th) I was very impressed and heartened by hearing Peter Jennings repeatedly stress that we didn’t know who had committed these acts and that it could very well not be muslims. Everyone on the the air seems to be putting forth the best effort the ycan to give all the news unfiltered. They have been understanding of the rescue workers getting tired of having camera’s and microphones in their face all day.
I can’t watch the reporters who are just doing their jobs and being the consummate professional. It seems too heartless.