C.S.I. is a hit show but does that make the cast sniper experts?
10-27-02, 01:26 AM
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C.S.I. is a hit show but does that make the cast sniper experts?
Only a small blurb in the nytimes but I thought it was funny. I guess if they let Bo Dietl on t.v. the cast of csi can't be much worse.
When developments failed to provide enough actors, the cable networks found more, in the form of former law enforcement personnel, criminologists and the host of "America's Most Wanted" on Fox.
CNN even asked CBS late last week if it would supply real actors — the ones who appear on the CBS prime-time series "Crime Scene Investigation" — to comment on the case. CBS declined.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/25/na...al/25TUBE.html
When developments failed to provide enough actors, the cable networks found more, in the form of former law enforcement personnel, criminologists and the host of "America's Most Wanted" on Fox.
CNN even asked CBS late last week if it would supply real actors — the ones who appear on the CBS prime-time series "Crime Scene Investigation" — to comment on the case. CBS declined.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/25/na...al/25TUBE.html
10-27-02, 01:45 AM
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Cable's Focus on Sniper Helped the Authorities, but Also Drew Harsh Critics
By FELICITY BARRINGER and JIM RUTENBERG
The omnivorous coverage that the cable news networks gave to the hunt for the sniper terrorizing Maryland and Virginia has thrust them once again into a heated debate over the nature of cable news. Did all the attention prove crucial in the capture of the prime suspects? Or did it just feed audiences a diet of recycled information, misinformation and speculation, keeping them mesmerized and terrified?
There is evidence for both conclusions. The law enforcement authorities agree that Wednesday night's broadcasts of the description of the suspects' car and license plate number quickly produced a tip that led to the arrests of John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo early yesterday at a highway rest area near Frederick, Md.
Douglas F. Gansler, the chief prosecutor in Montgomery County, scene of most of the Maryland shootings, said yesterday in an interview, "The press plays an important role, and obviously we saw how critical a role it played last night."
And throughout the past week, the Montgomery County police chief, Charles A. Moose, passed messages to the killer through news outlets.
But, echoing the criticism of the bygone days of O. J. Simpson, Monica Lewinsky and Gary A. Condit, Mr. Gansler argued that the sheer volume of coverage, particularly on cable news outlets, made the investigation, with all its false leads and misdirected moments, into an unnecessarily painful national psychodrama. When developments failed to provide enough actors, the cable networks found more, in the form of former law enforcement personnel, criminologists and the host of "America's Most Wanted" on Fox.
CNN even asked CBS late last week if it would supply real actors — the ones who appear on the CBS prime-time series "Crime Scene Investigation" — to comment on the case. CBS declined.
The cable networks' appetite for video, the fresher the better, was such that hours were spent yesterday replaying two rather uncompelling images — the nighttime shot of the day-glo highway cones at the rest stop or the firemen in Tacoma, Wash., removing a stump that may have been used for target practice.
Referring to the break in the case Wednesday night, when the police began to search Mr. Muhammad's former house in Washington State, the Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly, who has criticized the zeal of his cable colleagues, said, "People were willing to just sit on that shot of someone digging in a Tacoma backyard for hours, with no information flow, nothing, from 7:45 to 3 a.m."
Indeed, Nielsen Media Research data showed that people immediately switched to a cable rival whenever one of them dropped the story for another topic.
That seemed to chain the cable networks into the sniper coverage, regardless of the merits of other news, like the coming Senate and Congressional elections or even the Bali terrorist attack.
It is easy to see why: Over the course of the rampage, Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC had their largest average daily audiences of the year. The biggest day so far was Wednesday, when Fox News Channel was watched by 1.7 million people, CNN by 1.3 million people and MSNBC by nearly 700,000 people. The audiences doubled or nearly doubled in the six days leading up to the the arrests yesterday.
But the persistent focus on the sniper meant that the networks had to scramble to fill hours of time between developments, which were few and far between.
So, Ted Koppel of ABC News said: "Any little break in the story — not even a break in the story, just a nugget — ends up being blown up out of all proportion. Instead of just a nugget, it becomes `breaking news.' "
Traditionally, Mr. Koppel said: "You lay out all the information you've gathered, put it in some kind of order, and what you discard is as important as what you use. The 24/7 format almost dictates that you discard nothing." In fact, much of what was broadcast and published in the voluminous newspaper coverage was an accurate snapshot of the investigators' leads and actions. But in the end, the much-discussed white van, like the questioning of a radio repairman in Baltimore and the arrest of two illegal immigrants at a pay phone booth near Richmond, Va., all eventually proved irrelevant.
The weight given incidents like Monday's detention of the two men in Virginia — who were quickly dismissed as suspects — was completely out of proportion, Mr. Gansler, the prosecutor, said.
After the two were detained, Mr. Gansler said, Chief Moose had a news conference in Maryland to send a message to the sniper, indicating that he was still at large. Still, the cable networks spent hours discussing whether the killers were caught.
By evening, Mr. Gansler said, the broadcasters "had the chutzpah to say that this was a major disappointment."
Bill Shine, the executive producer of Fox News Channel, said the network had no choice but to cover such developments heavily. "Less than 24 hours after a killing occurred in that community, they have surrounded a phone booth and taken two people into custody and put up yards and yards and yards of yellow tape," Mr. Shine said. "What are we supposed to do? Go to the weather?"
As for the invitation to the actors in the "C.S.I." series, CNN confirmed that at one editorial meeting, executives discussed using the CBS drama to compare fictional crime fighting techniques with those used in the sniper case. Teya Ryan, the general manager of CNN's domestic network, said, "We cover stories in myriad different ways."
The broadcast news divisions also heavily emphasized sniper coverage, although broadcast coverage is usually confined to narrow time slots. In response to critics who say that television news was irresponsible in broadcasting clues, Bill Wheatley, the vice president of NBC News, said that his network had sometimes agreed to withhold information.
During the story, "journalistic dilemmas were presenting themselves almost hourly," Mr. Wheatley said. "Most revolved around what we knew and whether reporting it would endanger lives."
By FELICITY BARRINGER and JIM RUTENBERG
The omnivorous coverage that the cable news networks gave to the hunt for the sniper terrorizing Maryland and Virginia has thrust them once again into a heated debate over the nature of cable news. Did all the attention prove crucial in the capture of the prime suspects? Or did it just feed audiences a diet of recycled information, misinformation and speculation, keeping them mesmerized and terrified?
There is evidence for both conclusions. The law enforcement authorities agree that Wednesday night's broadcasts of the description of the suspects' car and license plate number quickly produced a tip that led to the arrests of John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo early yesterday at a highway rest area near Frederick, Md.
Douglas F. Gansler, the chief prosecutor in Montgomery County, scene of most of the Maryland shootings, said yesterday in an interview, "The press plays an important role, and obviously we saw how critical a role it played last night."
And throughout the past week, the Montgomery County police chief, Charles A. Moose, passed messages to the killer through news outlets.
But, echoing the criticism of the bygone days of O. J. Simpson, Monica Lewinsky and Gary A. Condit, Mr. Gansler argued that the sheer volume of coverage, particularly on cable news outlets, made the investigation, with all its false leads and misdirected moments, into an unnecessarily painful national psychodrama. When developments failed to provide enough actors, the cable networks found more, in the form of former law enforcement personnel, criminologists and the host of "America's Most Wanted" on Fox.
CNN even asked CBS late last week if it would supply real actors — the ones who appear on the CBS prime-time series "Crime Scene Investigation" — to comment on the case. CBS declined.
The cable networks' appetite for video, the fresher the better, was such that hours were spent yesterday replaying two rather uncompelling images — the nighttime shot of the day-glo highway cones at the rest stop or the firemen in Tacoma, Wash., removing a stump that may have been used for target practice.
Referring to the break in the case Wednesday night, when the police began to search Mr. Muhammad's former house in Washington State, the Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly, who has criticized the zeal of his cable colleagues, said, "People were willing to just sit on that shot of someone digging in a Tacoma backyard for hours, with no information flow, nothing, from 7:45 to 3 a.m."
Indeed, Nielsen Media Research data showed that people immediately switched to a cable rival whenever one of them dropped the story for another topic.
That seemed to chain the cable networks into the sniper coverage, regardless of the merits of other news, like the coming Senate and Congressional elections or even the Bali terrorist attack.
It is easy to see why: Over the course of the rampage, Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC had their largest average daily audiences of the year. The biggest day so far was Wednesday, when Fox News Channel was watched by 1.7 million people, CNN by 1.3 million people and MSNBC by nearly 700,000 people. The audiences doubled or nearly doubled in the six days leading up to the the arrests yesterday.
But the persistent focus on the sniper meant that the networks had to scramble to fill hours of time between developments, which were few and far between.
So, Ted Koppel of ABC News said: "Any little break in the story — not even a break in the story, just a nugget — ends up being blown up out of all proportion. Instead of just a nugget, it becomes `breaking news.' "
Traditionally, Mr. Koppel said: "You lay out all the information you've gathered, put it in some kind of order, and what you discard is as important as what you use. The 24/7 format almost dictates that you discard nothing." In fact, much of what was broadcast and published in the voluminous newspaper coverage was an accurate snapshot of the investigators' leads and actions. But in the end, the much-discussed white van, like the questioning of a radio repairman in Baltimore and the arrest of two illegal immigrants at a pay phone booth near Richmond, Va., all eventually proved irrelevant.
The weight given incidents like Monday's detention of the two men in Virginia — who were quickly dismissed as suspects — was completely out of proportion, Mr. Gansler, the prosecutor, said.
After the two were detained, Mr. Gansler said, Chief Moose had a news conference in Maryland to send a message to the sniper, indicating that he was still at large. Still, the cable networks spent hours discussing whether the killers were caught.
By evening, Mr. Gansler said, the broadcasters "had the chutzpah to say that this was a major disappointment."
Bill Shine, the executive producer of Fox News Channel, said the network had no choice but to cover such developments heavily. "Less than 24 hours after a killing occurred in that community, they have surrounded a phone booth and taken two people into custody and put up yards and yards and yards of yellow tape," Mr. Shine said. "What are we supposed to do? Go to the weather?"
As for the invitation to the actors in the "C.S.I." series, CNN confirmed that at one editorial meeting, executives discussed using the CBS drama to compare fictional crime fighting techniques with those used in the sniper case. Teya Ryan, the general manager of CNN's domestic network, said, "We cover stories in myriad different ways."
The broadcast news divisions also heavily emphasized sniper coverage, although broadcast coverage is usually confined to narrow time slots. In response to critics who say that television news was irresponsible in broadcasting clues, Bill Wheatley, the vice president of NBC News, said that his network had sometimes agreed to withhold information.
During the story, "journalistic dilemmas were presenting themselves almost hourly," Mr. Wheatley said. "Most revolved around what we knew and whether reporting it would endanger lives."
10-27-02, 09:04 PM
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I'm sure they know as much as some of the "ex-police experts" that they had that told outright lies about the firearms info they gave
