20 Comments Add your own

• 1. Zack  |  July 27th, 2007 at 1:30 pm

  This kind of story really hits home to all the newsers.

  It’s 4:30, none of the sites are loading.

• 2. Rob  |  July 27th, 2007 at 1:49 pm

  KPHO and KTVK loading fine, the other two are sucking bandwidth.

  Agree with Zach … I’ve got friends who work at KPHO and know a few people who work at KTVK … a dark day for all of the newsies in Phoenix today.

• 3. tdc  |  July 27th, 2007 at 2:24 pm

  my heart goes out to the families of the victims.

  the stream i was watching UNFORTUNATELY seemed more focused on the media at-large and their association with the phoenix pd than on the accident and its victims.

  i am going back to the stream now and will absolutely retract this comment if i see differently.

• 4. Zack  |  July 27th, 2007 at 2:47 pm

  They seem to be doing a better job. The reporters in the field are having a tough time.

  On some of the stations it seems the male anchors are insensitive in their adlibs, leaving their co-anchor in awkward stares.

• 5. Patrick  |  July 27th, 2007 at 4:45 pm

  Our site should be working now. I still feel sick.

• 6. Mike  |  July 27th, 2007 at 7:11 pm

  What I find “odd” is how each of the affected stations are covering the event on their websites. KNXV is honoring all the victims. The headline on the homepage right now mentions both stations “4 dead in ABC15, Channel 3 chopper crash”. But KTVK3 seems to still be in competition-mode, which is sickening. Until you get in to the details of the story they don’t even acknowledge ABC15 exists. The caption to their “Breaking News” headline is “Two television news helicopters collided in midair and crashed while covering a police pursuit in central Phoenix, killing a 3TV pilot and photographer.” How f-ing rude! They don’t even mention that the same crash killed 2 additional people who work for ABC15. Unbelievable that they can’t play nice with others even at a tragic time like that.

• 7. What about me?  |  July 27th, 2007 at 10:24 pm

  The Phoenix situation is very tragic and my heart goes out to all the families.

  With that said, i find it odd the amount of attention all the TV stations devoted to this unfortunate accident. What if the people in the copters were NOT TV people. Do you think it would get more than a 2 minute story? Seems like news is really only news if it involves News people. All the stations should be ashamed at the amount of coverage.

• 8. Mike Escutia  |  July 28th, 2007 at 6:17 am

  Mr. “What about me?”:

  This happened on live television, even though viewers of either station didn’t see the actual crashes. There was no way to downplay it.

  It also happened right in downtown Phoenix, not out in the middle of the desert.

  Now, if you’re complaining about the amount of coverage on stations outside of the Phoenix market, I may be inclined to agree with you. But, then, I’m not a news person.

• 9. Joe  |  July 28th, 2007 at 8:28 am

  Mr. What About Me is right. A Phoenix police officer was shot and killed last night in the line of duty, and the suspect is at large. It’s being treated as if nothing happened. The crash is truly a tragic event and it’s going to spark a review of the conduct of news copters covering car chases. But other news happened in Phoenix today. Also, sentiment in Phoenix is running against media copters in general right now. This event and the wall-to-wall coverage is only going to make things worse for them. Already there is an uproar over the suggestion that the car chase suspect may be charged with manslaughter in connection with the copter crash.

• 10. John Proffitt  |  July 28th, 2007 at 12:17 pm

  Sorry folks, but there’s a whole group out here that has a contrarian viewpoint and you need to know about it.

  The thinking goes like this: “You got what you deserved.”

  How many brainless TV stations and copter pilots have been chasing high-speed pursuit stories for how many years, dumbing down TV news to the point of hillybilly antics and subjecting the thinking sector of the public to this moronic display? Argh!

  I’m sorry it had to be these particular men at this particular time — but it had to be somebody sometime. Here’s hoping these deaths will send a signal to TV stations across the country that this kind of “news coverage” is meaningless drivel and isn’t worth the fuel or manhours or deaths expended.

  Spend that money covering the police officer killed in the line of duty. Cover the funding problems of a local charity. Do investigative journalism on corrupt politicians. The copter shots of snarled traffic and pursuits don’t enlighten civic dialogue, solve problems or bring the community together.

  Here’s to more copters falling out of the sky. Preferably with soft — and permanent — landings.

• 11. Anonymous  |  July 28th, 2007 at 12:40 pm

  Wow, John, thanks for sharing such profound and dignified wisdom. This site, in case you’re too obtuse to realize, is frequented by people in the news business.

  Everyone else, please ignore John the Troll, whose self-preservation is indicative of today’s societal ills.

• 12. thedetroitchannel  |  July 28th, 2007 at 12:49 pm

  err, i’ve seen john’s postings on plenty of tv related sites on a wide variety of topics. be careful who you call a troll.

  ps. i can’t say i’m in total agreement with john, but i’ll side with his right to post his view wherever…

• 13. Joe  |  July 28th, 2007 at 1:49 pm

  I’d have to side with John on this one, except for the “brainless helicopter pilots” crack. They aren’t the ones who are brainless. It’s the station mgmt. who barks unreasonable orders at the desk day in and day out to get this garbage covered. And they pester the pilots who are trying to save lives in the air and on the ground.

  The car chase suspect was a menace. A police helicopter needed to be up there to coordinate the police pursuit. One media helicopter needed to be there to alert the public. Four other copters needed to be on stand-by at Scottsdale Airpark to relieve the pool copter if the chase continued. That reasonable, intelligent approach would have saved the lives of four distinguished, intelligent news professionals.

  Oh, but wait, we’re talking about the idiotic TV and newspaper news industry, aren’t we? The one where industry leaders like Knight Ridder implode in a shareholder revolt, and Tribune sells itself to a Chicago parking lot king in a fire sale. Yeah, those are the brainless ones.

• 14. What about me?  |  July 28th, 2007 at 2:09 pm

  Interesting how Anonymous seems to be completely clueless. Funny how negative his reaction is to John’s insightful comment. My guess is Anonymous is one of these guys who cares more about the overnight ratings then his responsibility to the community or the integrity of his position.

  Isnt it a bit strange that KTVK.com’s lead story is about the crash (and it’s employees) followed by death of the Police Officer. This further proves its time for the station’s staff to think about what it’s doing to serve the community. It’s also time for stations to stop the non-stop coverages of police chases.

• 15. Tom  |  July 30th, 2007 at 4:31 am

  I don’t know wheter all of you guys are Americans… But if more people like you start thinking like John, thing are going to the right direction. I am living in Switzerland, but this case took even my attention. Nowhere in Europe, anyone would just have the idea to report live from a tv chopper if a robbery or even a pursuit. I don’t know, but some people have to be blind that they don’t notice what illnes is going on in media in the USA. “The more blue blinking lights from police cars and so on, the better. It just has to look spectacular”.

  And people like the anonymous one are probably a product of the (international compared) bad school basic education or other problems which should be in the media instead… Wake up, America!

• 16. Rocker  |  July 30th, 2007 at 6:54 am

  There will be a time for the debate over Proffitt”s obvious and IMHO inarguable point. But that time is not yet. You may be right, but that doesn’t mean you’re not also a heartless SOB.

• 17. John Proffitt  |  July 30th, 2007 at 2:26 pm

  I find it ironic that I’m called a “troll” when Anonymous won’t even sign a name — even a fake name — to his posting. I’m using my real name, people. I’m not hiding. And by the way, I *love* this blog — great stuff.

  I have to agree that my earlier comment was incorrect in assigning blame to the helicopter pilots out there — they are doing their jobs, feeding their families, etc. That’s fine. My beef really is with the nitwits at the top of the commercial news foodchain. I guess in a way you could say they’re just doing their jobs, too.

  But someone, somewhere along the line has to take some responsibility for the abhorrent condition of TV news. Someone needs to stand up and say, “No, I’m not going to put a helicopter in the air just because O.J.’s driving his Bronco down the freeway.” Please, for the love of democracy, put those dollars into doing investigative journalism or simple local coverage — on the ground, literally. Keep me informed on issues that matter to the future of my family and community.

  And yes, the time for that debate is right now — not after the funeral, not after we’ve forgotten about this incident. If there’s a breaking story here, it’s the collision followed by an immediate grounding of all choppers and a serious public debate over the value of such “coverage.” Does the public really benefit from this chopper mania? Should the stations just get their insurance dollars and buy new choppers and start all over again?

  I know, I know — we won’t see real change. The gyros will keep spinning up. The chases will go on. “Max X” needs its video clips and CNN anchors need to be able to say “…well, we can’t quite tell what’s going on… there’s a lot of smoke… we’re told there’s been a crash… we’ll — wait… uh… we’ll go to commercial and come back with more in a moment…” Sad.

  Ya know, I recently re-watched a Season 1 episode of the new Battlestar Galactica and it speaks to this situation in a way. It’s the one where Apollo blows up a civilian transport on orders from his father. There’s a scene at the end where Dad comes in and tries to comfort Apollo by saying, “I gave the order to shoot. It’s not your responsibility.” Rather than being relieved Apollo responds, “But I’m the one that pulled the trigger. And that’s my responsibility.”

  So here’s a question… In the wreckage of these two helicopters and their destroyed lives, who gave the orders to shoot and who pulled the trigger?

• 18. Tom  |  July 31st, 2007 at 3:21 pm

  Once again I gotta completely agree with John. The time to call things by name IS right now, not any day later. Well, I never heard about “Battlestar Galactica”, but the final question is in fact not easy to answer. I am studying economics, and in economical view, it is just a market. TV stations just answer the needs of the consuments. So the consuments gave the order tho shoot, but the TV stations pulled the trigger as soon as the choppers took off.

  But does the consument really care about why somebody robbed a bank or feel with the family and friends? In my opinon, NO. It is all that much superficial, it just has to look spectacular. We people in Europe are generally told that Americans are “very kind, but a bit superficial”. Maybe this cliché is right… I just watched the movie “Blood Diamond” (a masterpiece, really!). When they arrive at a refugee camp with 1′000′000 people, Jennifer Conelly says “Maybe you get a 2-seconds glance of that at CNN between the Sport and the News”. The bad thing about the movie is, that the situation is damn true.

  TV choppers should right now head to Africa, to the Middle East or similar destinations instead. It happens so much shit in Africa alone and nobody cares about… In some countries in Africa are probably more rapes and children murders in one day than in one year in NY. But one case in NY gets more attention than ten years of civil war in africa. A child’s death is tragical in NY and in Africa, but I call everyone a racist who thinks that the American child is more important.

  These stupid pursuits on TV and the lack of media interest on developing countries has the same reason: It is both just because of this unbelievable superficiality. And that’s a problem of the whole society.

  ps: sorry for my English…! As you probably noticed, it is not my native language.

• 19. Patrick Morgan  |  April 11th, 2008 at 6:36 am

  What is happening to Channel 3.? It has been my favorite channel since 1991….and now….who ever thought those two idiots could replace Tim and Willy?? And even worse….no Beth and Bill!!! It looks like poor management to me. The other channels are looking better. What are you going to take from us next?

  Patrick Morgan
  895 Church St.
  Bullhead City, Az. 86442

• 20. Patrick Morgan  |  April 11th, 2008 at 6:36 am

  What is happening to Channel 3.? It has been my favorite channel since 1991….and now….who ever thought those two idiots could replace Tim and Willy?? And even worse….no Beth and Bill!!! It looks like poor management to me. The other channels are looking better. What are you going to take from us next?

  Patrick Morgan
  895 Church St.
  Bullhead City, Az. 86442

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