Now that the union has formally stepped in to the mayor's office to voice concern over the growing number of attacks against Bay Area TV News crews, one might think the problem will go away--it won't, and it's only going to get worse.The bad guys know the news vans are out there. "We're sitting ducks!", a local reporter told me sometime back. "They're watching us right there. They know where we're reporting them and they can hatch up a plan in moments. It's crazy!"
And security isn't a deterrent as a team that got attacked last summer had a security guard armed to the teeth. It didn't help.
News vans and staff could help matters. Stations could also use some common sense. I've said in the past that a news van plastered with a station's logo is a no-no. An unmarked van would do wonders; it sounds goofy but it isn't. Will it make the bad guys go away? No, but it wouldn't hurt either.
News crews could also do live shots in the vicinity of the area; if it's a crime scene location, that's tough, I get it but what's the alternative? More attacks. Sorry to say this nasty and unfortunate wave of violence against Bay Area News Crews doesn't seem to go away anytime soon.
Glad to see something is being done about it in SF (two thefts and attacks in the past couple years as far as I know). But what about the ones in Oakland that occur with much more frequency even though there are less stories being covered there?
ReplyDeleteLive stand-up reporting at the scene of an incident after the fact is never necessary. Just stay in the studio and tell us what happened. And if you need to go into the field to interview somebody, do the interview in that person's home or office. Probably 99% of out-on-the-street live coverage is unnecessary. If the San Francisco Board of Supervisors does something silly again, just tell us from the studio; no need to go stand in front of City Hall.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Charles, Amen!! Couldn't have said it any better!! As Dennis Richmond recently said, "I don't give 2 shits & a Fuck You, Charlie about it!!"
DeleteI don't think that will work because the stations want to give the aura that they're on the scene, and they would be at a competitive disadvantage if they wimped out like that. I say to wear sidearms, visible, and know how to use them.
DeletePerhaps the news unions should speak to the police union about matters like accountability,police culture, and priorities, The most uncovered story has to be how police unions and inept / corrupt politicians have FUBARED public safety for personal gain. Good cops burn out and leave. Bad cops get uber wealthy.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget how liberal, lazy parenting years ago produced out-of-control kids who became out-of-control adults who parented even more out-of-control kids. It snowballed.
DeleteSincerely,
AA
Corrupt politicians=the democrats in control. Thank you.
DeleteHow about the news unions speak to the liberal judges about the lenient sentences given to convicted violent criminals?
DeleteOf course, there has never been any corruption in politics when the republicans are in control. Or out-of-control adults who were damaged by overbearing parents.
DeleteYou're welcome!
"out-of-control adults who were damaged by overbearing parents."
DeleteGosh, we sure didn't see much of this in the 1950s. I wonder why?
@11:14 What if the Pier 14 shooter was white? What if the victim wasn't so pretty or if she was a woman/person of color? Would you still be "outraged?" I'm guessing you wouldn't be. You'd find a way to skew the story to fit your bigoted beliefs. Corrupt, morally and otherwise, are people of your ilk using this tragedy to score political points.
Delete12:40, where was race mentioned in my post from 11:14?
Delete12:13,
DeleteThe '50s were a boom time for organized crime, racism, corrupt government and LE, child abuse, and housewives on "legal" speed; out-of-control assholes who just happened to dress well and work the guise. The kiddies' repressed resentments boiled over in the '60s, and wasn't that a clusterfuck of chaos?!
Organized crime: Much more prevalent now...to wit, hijacked news crews, unbelievable numbers of street gangs, Mexican mafia, etc, etc, etc. Not much going on in the '50s and what little there was was so uncommon that it made the news.
DeleteRacism: True, that's better now. Republican Martin Luther King came along and helped matters, and he did it in a peaceful way, but it wasn't as bleak as it seems. What is a satisfied life? Is it a good life when one is angry? I think a good life is when one is content and satisfied. When you're happy. Angry people are never happy. Anger wasn't as prevalent back then, and people weren't screaming at each other like they are today. People were more civil to one another.
Child abuse: I don't remember any child abuse going one -- at least not around me.
"Out of control assholes who just happened to dress well and work the guise" is beyond my comprehension. I'm not understanding what is meant by that. People dressed up and went to work and were pretty content as far as I can remember. I was a kid, but was never resentful of parents or other adults, nor were my friends. There was no "clusterfuck of chaos" around me; however, I'll put that phrase in Nexis and see if I can find anything from the 1950s, but I doubt it.
Aunt Emma, and how is Mike Huckabees son doing these days?
DeleteHe's doing what everyone else is doing these days: Trying not to be murdered by illegal aliens.
DeleteSincerely,
AE
So 6:14, per your post re: the '50s....
DeleteThere was not much organized crime in the '50s; uncommon to the point where it was typically not newsworthy.
Racism wasn't as bleak as it seems.
People were more civil to each other; anger was not as prevalent.
You don't remember child abuse, at least not around you.
People were content, at least as far as you remember.
...Interesting recollections that have some marked inconsistencies with the vast majority of accounts/reports that I have heard and seen. Ironically, your "...good life...satisfied life...happy..." comments sound remarkably similar to some of the '60s hippie notions! Considering the sources' limited contexts, and the fantastic nature of their claims, those perspectives do seem quite idealistic.
If you grew up in an environment that was sheltered and secure, and you and your neighbors were content and safe, then I am happy for you/them. It was noble that you and your friends were respectful to your elders. It is nice that you have warm and fuzzy memories from that era, and your immediate environment was a good one. But I am highly skeptical in regard to whether it reflected a much broader societal spectrum; one where numerous undesirable situations (that evidently were not detected by some, like yourself) were more pervasive.
More evidence of the desperation that is gripping this country as the gulf between rich and poor continues to grow. Poverty creates hopelessness and ignorance, and young men who drop out of school and live in dysfunctional homes join gangs and then rob, beat, and kill each other as well as innocents. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. As we continue to marginalize the poor, give more tax breaks to the wealthy, and make education less of a priority for the majority of our citizens, we increase the chances of becoming more of a 'Third World Country.'
ReplyDeleteThere are now 350 million people living here in the US and probably 20 million of them are here illegally, so our resources to help poor people are now being strained to the max but those who have come here from Latin America in the hopes of gaining a new and more positive life, (can you blame them, given what is going on in Mexico?)
We now also have a huge problem in our inner cities, where any successful African American folks are very few in evidence because as soon as they get any kind of a shot at success, they're gone. Can you blame them?
Meanwhile, corporations and big media companies who know less and less about what the media's role is, (and don't care anyway), are downsizing valuable local stations such as KGO and putting on syndicated crap or at best, part time 'independent contractors, who come and go. Remember that bloviating fool who was here for a couple of years, Tim Montemayer? Get used to more blathering non-entities like him as we move further and deeper into this wonderful 21st century.
" the gulf between rich and poor continues to grow. "
DeleteThat's because there are an increasing number of ILLEGAL aliens here. They steal jobs from (mainly) African Americans, who are unemployed and count as wage earners who now get nothing. Seal the border and that problem should get better.
20 million illegals is the number the Democrats like to throw around. The real number is 40-50 million.
DeleteYes, I do blame the illegals for coming here illegally. There are poor people around the world who follow the system and jump through hoops and pay big fees to the US government to be here legally. To HELL with the illegals, who not only come here illegally, but choose to never assimilate.
DeleteAs for the folks who gangbang because they're poor, I have no sympathy for them either. They could choose to self educate themselves and start a proper business, but instead they fall on the poverty pimps cry of "no jobs, no peace". Create your own jobs, don't gangbang!
Well the good news for all you morons complaining about ILLEGALS and the problems you blame them for is there is a presidential candidate for you. Donald Trump. Yes, he's a moron but he sounds just like you.
DeleteHate to tell you that crime rates are declining in the Bay Area. Don't let facts interfere with your personal opinions.
Delete"all you morons"
DeleteNamecalling does my heart good. It means that you're argumentatively unarmed.
Trump!
Delete12:24 Morons don't build multi-billion dollar estates.
Delete12:24 Morons don't build multi-billion dollar estates.
DeleteNO, THEY INHERIT THEM.
They inherit a small group of apartments and build them into something about 10,000 times bigger.
DeleteYup. That's what morons do, alright.
10:01...sorry, but the golden age that all conservatives like to romatacize had the "bracero" program. Illegals aw not the cause of a gap between rich and poor. In The 1950's a CEO made roughly 6 times that of the average worker. Today it is more like hundreds or even a thousand times more. Manufacturing has gone off shore and left a void of jobs. The tax rate for the top money makers was 90%, and the government gave tax breaks based on reinvesting in your company (your workers, your city, your state, your country). Amazing how that produced a booming economy that worked for a greater portion of the populace than does today's economy of a game rigged to pander to the super rich, and may the unwashed masses be damned.
DeleteAn unmarked news van? Like all the stuff on top is invisible? And like a 30' mast sticking out of the top isn't obvious....
ReplyDeleteOr at least have a decoy logo printed on the trucks like - 'Acme Anvil Co. - No TV Stuff In Here.'
DeleteAt least the mast might soon be able to be dispensed with. New LTE-A advances could allow the nextgen cellphones to pipe video, IFB, and various control signals all onto an RF signal passing through cell sites using the MIMO antennas of a simple phone in broadcast quality. There's a small company down in San Diego working on this.
Delete" decoy logo printed on the trucks like - 'Acme Anvil Co. - No TV Stuff In Here.'"
Delete"Frank's Textbook Supply"
Since most of these thefts occur at/near live news stories, and areas noted for lack of police, BA cops could easily thwart most instances if they had an undercover joint task force that news agencies could notify of their live locations. Arresting same thugs would also likely end a lot of other robberies and such. Are you listening Libby, Ed?
ReplyDelete9:36 AM - - Yes, let's all NOT marginalize the poor. Especially the ones wearing ski masks and driving black BMW 7-series vehicles without plates. From your comments, it's clear that hopelessness and ignorance is even more pervasive...
ReplyDeleteHow compatible with other uses are broadcast video cameras these days? Do they use any proprietary mechanisms, like a super super beta format, that is incompatible with other video production? I suspect they'd have a market among other video purveyors, think porn, if they just plug right in.
ReplyDeleteYou know what would help? Real prison sentences for violent criminals. Without parole. And while in prison, no TV, no movies, no weight rooms. Read books in a library, do calisthenics for exercise.
ReplyDeleteIs that you Ronn?
DeletePerfect idea. Prisoners just love to read.
Delete12:29, then they can sit in their cell. They don't need or deserve movies, or things they "love". That's part of being in prison should be about.
DeleteThe stations could cut unnecessary "hours later" live shots and the cops should be able to figure out who is fencing this stuff.
ReplyDeleteCould always go with a green screen a la the reporters on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"
ReplyDeleteHow about having the vans be full of cops busting people when doing a sting?
ReplyDeleteThese guys are so easy to bait out as they are clearly following the vans (and probably the plates). Just friggin use cops to arrest them when they get baited out.
ITS SO SIMPLE. I guess logic is something that is just impossible to find now when it comes to heads running things.
Disappearing the logo is one thing but how do you disguise a satellite dish? Or disguise the faces of reporters everyone recognizes? I see a truck with no logo and a big ass satellite on top I'm pretty sure they're not selling Mr. Softee.
ReplyDeleteI love the irony, especially with KTVU, who never seems to pass up an anti-police storyline, is now begging for police protection.
ReplyDelete..."who shot ya? separate the weak from the obsolete"..... atleast ABC has some nice vehicles....where as kron got the 1990 econoline van on the scene or send folks in the tiny hybrid clown vehicle.... how many caught that abc special on friday about thefts in SF? that crew went into oakland flea market to get at a person for stealing a bike like he robbed a bank.....Overall the security at ALL the media outlets in the Bay are a joke...
ReplyDelete