Putting the middle finger on a cartoon character in a noon newscast is probably not a good idea, considering the audience at that hour. Not a lot of 15-35 year olds there.

I don’t think it has anything to do with the FCC. I think it’s a local news thing. You know, you put something like that on the air and you get a few emails from cranky parents who say you’ve ruined their kids. So you over-react and water down your coverage to try not to offend anyone, and as a result, you don’t appeal to anyone who’s 15-35 years old. Because people in that age group demand honesty and reality.

But what about the Boston area web sites? What images, if any, did they show of the dangerous Light Brights? I haven’t seen any mention of this.

And along the same line as Uncle Rupert’s comment above: From a “Fatherland Security” (ahem) point of view, all this coverage and hysteria has proven that a dozen electronic devices can be simultaneously deployed around Boston. And placed in locations where they were MEANT to be seen!

If anybody was to recognize the image and call off the panic dogs, it should have been the males age 18-35 who are no doubt employed by the local affiliates and probably had to create all the tacky “MYSTERIOUS PACKAGES / BOMB HOAX” graphics that coated the Team Coverage. I blame those guys for not speaking up.

The real question is: if you had walked by a Lite Brite shaped like an 80s video game character, would you have jumped to the conclusion that it’s a bomb? Crap no. All of those rush-to-air journos should be trying to find out who was the Boston-area Moroninite who first called the police. There’s your instigator.

had they NOT pixelated the damn thing i would have thought it was nothing but a picture of a po’d detroit driver… lost in boston.

And come on: What is local TV supposed to do when the police is shutting down things and removing “suspicious” packages all over town? Turner’s marketing team could have easily informed the police. Or at least CNN. Or maybe don’t put stuff on bridges.

really…the Local TV people and the authorties should shoulder more of the blame than Turner and it’s marketing team.

I saw the “bird” and everything else of the image.

The issue was probably exacerbated once the tv stations got wind, sending up helicopters, cutting in, rolling crawls, and adding to the hysteria.

TV News adds to the theatrics. The rush to be the “first” so they can run some flashing lights and loud music promo, “WE were the first on the scene………..”

The authorities are going after the wrong media outlet. Don’t go after Turner, go after the local media, likely the tv blowhards who were thinking and probably acting as if the sky was falling.

Doesn’t this also reflect bad, like real, real bad on Homeland Security? First, they can’t do anything right in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina relief, and now this.

I’d like to know how the Fox affiliate handled this. After all, the Fox mothership has helped to push its Bush propaganda and scare tactics into everyone who views it.