Dealing with Media at a DZ: WAS: Midair Elsinore - 26 Aug 2011

[quade 3]

http://in.news.yahoo.com/video/losangelescbs2-15750780/2-skydivers-critically-injured-in-accident-over-lake-elsinore-26437503.html

Editorial from me: Guys, if you're ever approached by a camera after an accident, decide then and there what you're going to do; talk or walk. Unless you're the DZO or assigned by the DZO to talk, you do not have to talk to anybody if you don't want to; just walk away. Do NOT put your hand over the camera. It only makes things worse for the sport.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[NiteQwill 0]

As some know, the UK military trains primarily at Elsinore several months out of the year.

Many of these jumpers are on (or just beginning) AFF progression.

"Fail, fail again. Fail better."
-Samuel Beckett

[skyrider 0]

Quote

http://in.news.yahoo.com/video/losangelescbs2-15750780/2-skydivers-critically-injured-in-accident-over-lake-elsinore-26437503.html

Editorial from me: Guys, if you're ever approached by a camera after an accident, decide then and there what you're going to do; talk or walk. Unless you're the DZO or assigned by the DZO to talk, you do not have to talk to anybody if you don't want to; just walk away. Do NOT put your hand over the camera. It only makes things worse for the sport.

WTH was that guy thinking? Yep, makes us look real bad...

[NiteQwill 0]

What was not shown is that the newreporter PHYSICALLY touched one of the employees after several employees asked the news crew not to trespass on the property. The other employee told the reporter "not to touch her again."

The police officer in the video actually ESCORTED the news crew off the property after they repeatedly failed to leave the property upon request.

Please, please don't believe everything that the media says. We all should know better.

"Fail, fail again. Fail better."
-Samuel Beckett

[BoogeyMan 0]

An emotional event. But the guy with the dreads fell into the media trap. Reporters will do practically anything, including trampling over new born babes, to get "the shot".
Some reporters main goal/focus is solely getting their face on screen. Everything else is secondary.
Bottom-feeders, all.
Good advice....... Walk away, and to hell with the media.

[wmw999 2,116]

Reporters are no more evil than any other person with a job that sometimes puts them at odds with others. I really hate the "get the emotion" shots, but that's what sells newspapers and video .

Quit watching that kind of reporting to do your part.

Turning your back should always be effective. And the DZ's having a spokesperson will help.

Give them a story that has enough truth to hang together, and they're far less likely to make stuff up to go in the middle. Every technical area looks down reporters, because they can never know as much as experts.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[BoogeyMan 0]

Hi Wendy... Having been trained and worked for a governor, and a US Senator's successful campaigns, I can assure you that dealing with the media is interacting with a whole different animal. Best to avoid.

[Divalent 89]

Quote

...Reporters will do practically anything, including trampling over new born babes, to get "the shot". Some reporters main goal/focus is solely getting their face on screen. Everything else is secondary. ... Bottom-feeders, ... Good advice....... Walk away, and to hell with the media

OTOH, that’s kind of their job, trying to get accurate and complete information about events, and situations like this usually arise when people who have the information decide (even for good reasons) not to provide it. In my experience, whether a particular person considers pushy reporters as "bottom feeding scum" or "heroic investigators" serving the public interest by depends mostly on whether that person (for personal, financial, or ideological reasons) would want the information made public.

The response of the DZ (providing no info, asking reporters to leave) is why we are sitting here with only the barest information at all about this incident. And without more, it's kind of pointless to have an incident thread on it, since unless we know what happened, we can't learn from it.

Sadly, this incident appears like it is going to go the way of the Cross Keys incident of May 27 of this year: a collision and two jumpers seriously injured (one fatally in that one), apparently witnessed by expert skydivers who could provide good insight into what happened and what possible factors were involved, and no one willing to provide us with that information (other than the advice to "be careful"). I mean, what's the point of an incident thread then?

[wmw999 2,116]

I have two cousins who are newspaper editors (well, one is retired). They're good guys. I've visited both within the last week.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[BoogeyMan 0]

Remember Walter Cronkite? Dan Rather? Both seemingly above the level of ambitious cub reporters, and later to have their egos and personal biases exposed.

[Muffie 0]

Quote

As some know, the UK military trains primarily at Elsinore several months out of the year.

Many of these jumpers are on (or just beginning) AFF progression.

In 2007 there was a collision involving a military jumper (not at Elsinore) and one of the factors may have been that the military jumper's canopy was difficult to see because it was a camoflauge pattern. Anyone know whether that could have been a factor in this incident as well?

[wmw999 2,116]

I did, actually.
Their opinion was that each reporter is a generalist, tasked with finding out as much as they can about a topic so they can build a story before their deadline. That's their job description. That's what people pay for when they buy a newspaper or watch the TV news.

They don't watch to see "something happened but we don't know what." Just like most industries, the news media are customer-driven, and each story is done by an individual.

Do you really think that other employees in other organizations don't bring their opinions and knowledge into their jobs? They do. So do reporters.

That doesn't make it right. But until we quit paying more for the newspaper that says it has "all the details" it's going to keep happening.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[DaVinciflies 0]

Was this related to the East Midlands Universities Officer Training Corps (EMUOTC) expedition who are out there currently?

[monkycndo 0]

Being that these were British military jumpers on training exercises, I would not be surprised that there might be limitations on any information being released to the public without it being approved by the Brits.

It used to be that the news cycle allowed more time to gather facts. But with twitter, FB and other means to get information out, the media has to move quickly to have "news" that isn't stale by the time they get it on the air. And in the industry the saying goes, "if it bleeds, it leads."

For Safety Day, each year we are reminded that the media is there for a story, not to get it right. For that reason, keep your mouth closed and send them to a DZ rep that is better at relaying a message that the media can understand and use without screwing it up. Even when an incident like this occurs, proper handling of the media can turn the reporting from death, carnage and bloody gore into something that grandma won't be afraid to do.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[vegandiver 0]

No, Both Jumpers were jumping normal sport rigs.

[DSE 3]

Managing Media on the Dropzone....

Long and short...Reporters are going to write a story.

Period. That's their job. It cannot be prevented. Like skydivers (and everyone else), they'll lose their jobs if they don't do it in a timely and proper manner.

[BoogeyMan 0]