Post by robeiae on Aug 30, 2017 8:47:23 GMT -5
Here's a piece at CNN about a six tragic drowning deaths--four kids and their great-grandparents--due to Harvey: www.cnn.com/2017/08/29/us/texas-saldivar-family-swept-away-ebof/index.html
It's horrible, to be sure, heart wrenching and tragic. And I think it's completely fair to cover the story; it's news.
But I happen to be watching CNN when reporter Erin Barnett was doing the interview upon which this story was based. She was interviewing the brother of guy who was driving the van carrying the above people--his parents and great nieces and nephews--and was asking him about the incident. Fair enough. But then she went into a line of questioning that was geared to get him to respond with something along the lines of "at least they (his parents) were together when they died." That was a little borderline, I think. But THEN she started asking about the youngest child who did--she was six--what, she was like, and so one. The guy started to choke up, understandably, but tried to answer the question. I was seriously starting to cry as well, so I quickly changed the channel.
Imo, that line of questioning was unnecessary and thoughtless, was intended to rip this guy up emotionally. It's one thing to ask these questions for a written story, it's something else entirely to do it on live TV.
Thoughts?
It's horrible, to be sure, heart wrenching and tragic. And I think it's completely fair to cover the story; it's news.
But I happen to be watching CNN when reporter Erin Barnett was doing the interview upon which this story was based. She was interviewing the brother of guy who was driving the van carrying the above people--his parents and great nieces and nephews--and was asking him about the incident. Fair enough. But then she went into a line of questioning that was geared to get him to respond with something along the lines of "at least they (his parents) were together when they died." That was a little borderline, I think. But THEN she started asking about the youngest child who did--she was six--what, she was like, and so one. The guy started to choke up, understandably, but tried to answer the question. I was seriously starting to cry as well, so I quickly changed the channel.
Imo, that line of questioning was unnecessary and thoughtless, was intended to rip this guy up emotionally. It's one thing to ask these questions for a written story, it's something else entirely to do it on live TV.
Thoughts?