The media may have been as responsible for sparking Wednesday`s violence as those who set fires and pulled passengers from their cars. That was the word from some media experts concerned about the steady stream of graphic images on television.
”It`s hard not to hear the relish in the (newscasters`) voices. Riots grab ratings,” said Brian Stonehill, coordinator of the media studies program at Pomona College. The story broke in the midst of a sweeps period.
But the media was hardly monolithic in its coverage. At KCOP-TV/13, for example, there was disagreement in the newsroom over how much to show.
KCOP was first on one of the most graphic scenes with its helicopter, showing footage of a driver at Florence and Normandie Avenues being pulled from his truck and beaten. Later, as the man struggled to get up, a young boy kicked the driver`s bleeding head.
While the footage was shown, there was a pitched battle in the newsroom over the appropriateness of showing the images. The anchors constantly spoke over the reporter, insisting the violence might not be the result of the verdicts.
”It was almost as violent here as it was out there on the streets,”
said Robert Long, KCOP`s managing editor. ”We had all afternoon deliberately maintained a low profile. We did the best we could to react and not become a part of the story.”
Long said they kept their equipment away from potential hot spots to discourage community members from reacting for the cameras.
But, he said, once things began to heat up, they decided to put their helicopter in the air. As soon as they saw the looting and beating, they moved in to cover the story.
”We were most appalled and frustrated by the lack of police action,”
said Long, who added that someone fired gunshots at the helicopter.
Sherrie Mazingo, chairwoman of the broadcast sequence at the University of Southern California School of Journalism, said the images transmitted by helicopters were warranted, but chided reporters and anchors for ”incendiary language” and irresponsible handling of the story.
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”The problem with it is the kind of comments that are being made by the anchors and the reporters about what they are seeing, and their speculation as to what`s going on,” she said.
At one point, she said, an anchor described a person on the street as a
”possible vigilante” and speculated that the man might be carrying a bomb or a Molotov cocktail-even though the object was indistinguishable.
”There also has been a great deal of on-air reporting about how the black community is being urged to stay calm and not get out of hand-basically to behave themselves. That`s bad reporting and it`s pejorative.”
But not all voices were so condemning.
”The media contribute, of course, but that`s nothing compared to the underlying conditions,” said Ed Trotter, a communications professor at California State University, Fullerton. ”Had there been no media, there might`ve been fewer people on the streets. But then there wouldn`t have been a (Rodney King) trial in the first place. The Watts riots occurred and there was no media there.”
Lisa DeLucia, a spokeswoman for KCBS-TV/2, said the station received many calls from viewers upset about the constant coverage.
”I told them we were concerned with people`s safety and that`s why we put up a map (of the problem area),” said DeLucia, who noted that KCBS did not broadcast passers-by being beaten.