I had originally intended to have this second post be about product quality, and the ethics of the various corporations that provide the products we buy. However, while trying to decide how I wanted to approach that topic I reminded myself of a different issue. This one is to do with privacy and the media.
Over the course of the last 25 years or so since the 911 Emergency system was created, we have been forced to hear an ever increasing number of audio clips of people in the grip of terror, perhaps trying to save the life of a family member, or in some cases in their own very last moments of life. These people called for help to 911, they didn’t call into a radio show. Nevertheless, in a few hours, if the story is juicy, their screams of pain, or their terrible anguish is going to be blood sport on your evening news. This is quite a contrast from what happens to similar recordings in aviation, which I believe is a superior process.
The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have a long-standing policy that cockpit audio tapes are not released to the media. The NTSB painstakingly reviews them. Then they are transcribed and released in a text only format. This is done because the last moments of life are deeply emotional and personal, and sometimes simply terrifying and gruesome. This policy protects families of the flight crew from being further traumatized.
By releasing only the transcript of an incident, the NTSB ensures that the relevant facts are made available to the public without feeding our perverse obsession with death. It is an excellent policy, and it has served the NTSB, the pilots, and the families very well for decades.
However, when you call 911, you are not entitled to the same level of privacy. This needs to change. The only reason that news outlets ask for those tapes is for emotional impact. The clips played are rarely informative. They play these recordings simply so that you can hear the pain. What reporter, or broadcaster can play this without feeling deeply ashamed?
I cannot remember ever hearing a tape which provided any real information, or which resolved any question about an incident. In short, it is not news. It is not information; it is an innocent person calling for help and being betrayed by the media, and by the agency responsible for protecting them.
I'm not alone on this feeling, some states are starting to look at this problem, as detailed in this MSNBC article. My wife points out, correctly, that it is sad that we even need a law to control this! Not so very long ago, when news reported news, a "Your momma should have raised you better" mentality would have quickly destroyed the reputation of any reporter that tried a stunt like this.
In 2009, there was an accident (Refresh your memory here) in which CHP officer Mark Saylor and his family were killed when the accelerator pedal stuck in the Lexus they were driving. Prior to the crash, a 911 call was made by Saylor's wife from a cell phone in the car. In the recording, she frantically talks with the dispatcher, hoping for any help. The terror is evident in her voice, and the tape was really very disturbing.
A reporter played this audio on the radio without any real introduction. As I drive in my car, I am suddenly a party to the accident. I recognized what was going to happen and I turned off my radio. I knew I didn’t want to listen to this. It made me angry that these people reaching out for help were being used as infotainment. After what felt like enough time, I turned my radio back on. However, it would seem that since Officer Saylor, who was likely trained to drive at high speed, was able to hold this car on the road for a while. As I turned my radio back on, the moment of impact greeted me, and a distraught 911 dispatcher was trying to determine if his caller was still there, and probably knew that they were gone.
As I continued my drive, I thought, would I want to listen to that if that was my father, or my brother? Would I want to hear it if that was my friend? Would I want it played if it was me in that car? All of those answers were ‘no’.
It was nothing more than a sickening exclamation point on a new story. That kind of action gets ratings. It gets ratings because we love the suffering of others. Yes, WE. It has to be 'we', because that is who is listening, not ‘they’. ‘They’ excuses you from the equation. If we all excuse ourselves because individually we are not sick enough to listen to something like this, then who is the listener? Obviously, it is the majority of us. If it were a small minority, it would not grab ratings for the broadcaster. Therefore, if it is not you, or me, then it is a close friend of ours. We are a sick society in this respect.
It is I suppose, similar to the coliseum in Rome. When the empire reached a certain level of opulence and decadence, people would happily line up to watch the death of whoever was tossed into the ring that week, purely for the guilty pleasure of watching someone suffer, experiencing a taste of the adrenaline without personally being in harm’s way.
What can we do about this? Since every news outlet uses this hook, you really cannot effectively boycott one ahead of any other. This problem probably does require us to involve our representatives in government.
Since I assume you're not already in constant contact with your representatives in government I found this handy link for you, to get you on your way. If you're in Missouri, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island or Wyoming, as mentioned in the MSNBC link above, this is no issue for you, your states have already put restrictions on these tapes.
Let's start being properly ashamed of ourselves, and our news media. Make it clear how you feel about this, to your local broadcasters, and to your state and federal representatives.
Be active, none of this is going to change on its own, you have to change it. This kind of responsibility is going to be a recurring theme here. If you're not ready to own up to your role in this society, you're reading the wrong page.
Take care until next time, and don't get the idea that I'm posting every day... This was just an issue I already had on my mind. Thanks for reading!
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