One of our favorite past-times is to watch the 10 o'clock news on ABC4. In the month of December, one of the field reporters, Reed Cowan, had the headline story of the night. It was on the dangers of Christmas trees and how quickly they can burn. To demonstrate his point, he had a stopwatch in his hand and two firemen nearby. He began, "I have this stopwatch here to show how quickly this tree will be consumed by fire. These good firemen are here to assist me."
He then instructed them to proceed in burning the tree. He pressed the button on the stop watch and continued...... Well, my friends, that poor tree never did catch on fire. A rather red-faced and embarrassed reporter had the camera pan away from the tree and he wrapped up his feature with no visual demonstration to punctuate his story.
A couple of nights ago, it was Reed Cowan's turn to report on the destruction of homes near the Santa Clara river in St. George, UT. Reporters had been stationed there throughout the day and many reporters had spectacular footage of homes that were washed away by the rising river.
Reed began his LIVE presentation: The cameras panned over to a home on the bank of the Santa Clara river. "We are showing you live footage of the situation. This home is about to be washed away and we will show you this EXCLUSIVE footage LIVE," he boasted.
Cora and I both looked at each other and shook our heads. We may have even screamed at the television, "NO REED, DON'T DO IT!"
Can you believe this journalist's gamble paid off big? We witnessed a live report and the home disappeared from the screen. Way to go Reed!
He then instructed them to proceed in burning the tree. He pressed the button on the stop watch and continued...... Well, my friends, that poor tree never did catch on fire. A rather red-faced and embarrassed reporter had the camera pan away from the tree and he wrapped up his feature with no visual demonstration to punctuate his story.
A couple of nights ago, it was Reed Cowan's turn to report on the destruction of homes near the Santa Clara river in St. George, UT. Reporters had been stationed there throughout the day and many reporters had spectacular footage of homes that were washed away by the rising river.
Reed began his LIVE presentation: The cameras panned over to a home on the bank of the Santa Clara river. "We are showing you live footage of the situation. This home is about to be washed away and we will show you this EXCLUSIVE footage LIVE," he boasted.
Cora and I both looked at each other and shook our heads. We may have even screamed at the television, "NO REED, DON'T DO IT!"
Can you believe this journalist's gamble paid off big? We witnessed a live report and the home disappeared from the screen. Way to go Reed!
Comments
Post a Comment