Waiting for the hearse
I could not believe One News the night before last, when during an (un-necessary) live cross, one of their reporters said how they were hoping to get live footage of the hearse going by (after the ballooning tragedy). I actually yelled at the television – which I do not do often. That was silly and tacky.
I’m not alone it seems. Throng blogged yesterday:
Sarah Batley’s live cross on One News tonight was utterly disgraceful and disrespectful to the 11 people who died tragically yesterday in the hot air balloon crash in Carterton, their families and their friends.
Desperately hoping to be live while a hearse drives past with bodies of the victims is incredibly distasteful, offensive and unnecessary.
It was offensive. To be fair to Ms Batley, she may not have been the one who decided to make mention of waiting for the hearse. It is one thing to include coverage of a hearse in a story. But the way they reported how they were “hoping” to get live coverage of it crossed a line – significantly.
Whale has blogged on this also. When Whale says it is distasteful, you know it definitely is 🙂
I contrast that to the good example of the photographer who captured photos of the balloon tragedy. Rather than sell them to The Sun or whichever tabloid will pay the most for them, he gave a copy to the Police for official inquiries, and deleted the originals. Big ups to that man.