On Air Tragedy

This morning as I watched the "Today Show" while getting my five year old ready for his first day of kindergarten, shocking images flashed on the screen as reports were coming in of a news reporter and her cameraman being shot and killed while on air.

Alison Parker, 24, and her cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were conducting a live interview at a Moneta, Virginia mall when 41 year old Vester Flanagan stepped forward and opened fire. Flanagan had previously worked for WDBJ as a reporter but had been fired two years ago. The woman being interviewed, Vicki Gardner, was shot in the back. The gunman later committed suicide.

As the day wore on and I learned more about the incident, I felt increasingly troubled. Over twenty years ago, I had been in similar positions. As a radio news anchor for CKSA Radio/TV in Lloydminster, Alberta, I was occasionally asked to be "on call" on weekends. I remember a particular Saturday evening when I got a call asking me to meet up with a cameraman to cover a fire at a local business. Many other times I was simply along for the ride with some of my good friends as they did "standups" for stories that would be broadcast on that night's news. Not then nor in the years that have passed had I ever imagined that something so terrible could happen to someone in that situation.

 

It seems to have become fashionable of late to heckle or harass on-air television reporters. With today's events, I'm sure reporters will feel incredibly vulnerable when broadcasting from public settings. Hopefully, those looking to get their "fifteen minutes" by doing something vulgar or ridiculous while being captured on live TV will think of Parker and Ward and the impact that this incident will have on those in their profession, and think again.