Over at Jalopnik Detroit, Aaron Foley has a terrific blog post (all pieced together by 1:28 a.m.) about the Detroit TV media’s embarrassing attempts last night to hype an unconfirmed story of shots fired in Hart Plaza shortly after the start of the Detroit fireworks show.
Foley systematically and chronologically lays out the folly of Channels 2, 4 and 7 engaging in speculative reporting about the "chaotic scene" without citing sources. He also shows the shallowness of TV reporters when they take to Twitter.
And the print and radio media are not left untouched. His conclusion? “… in times of panic, we still haven’t learned exactly how to inform the public about what exactly is going on.”
Here’s a portion of Foley’s commentary:
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| (Foley) |
“To be sure, violence at the annual fireworks show has happened in the past and is bizarrely accepted as the norm. And no one is disagreeing that violent events should not be reported.
“But what if maybe, just maybe, things changed for the better this year? And what if it wasn't gunshots, but maybe some other disturbance? Firecrackers? Echoes of the fireworks mistaken for gunshots?
“… To run on presumption and presumption alone that it was gunshots speaks more to the thirst of our local media to put more blood on the airwaves than to actually do some responsible reporting. (WXYZ's ragged coverage side by side with that uber-boosting ‘Detroit 2020’ series is especially disappointing and lets me know exactly where their priorities are.)”
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