On 20/9/05, william sawyer, discombobulated, unleashed: >Thought some might be interested in this op/ed from the Washington Post. I >hope it comes though all right... >
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/ AR2005091901297.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns> Hi Bill, Thanks for the link. Sometimes the needs of the story mean we go the extra distance to cover it, as US colleagues have demonstrated. I'm afraid that we've had nothing quite as disastrous in this (fairly) trtanquil part of the planet. Certainly nothing that requires 'heroics' as described in the article. What I do know is that I share a common belief amongst TV news gatherers that we're in the business of communication, and obtaining the best possible pictures and sound of unfolding events is not only a part of my job, it's actually now instinctive. Recently I was filming at a car dealership on a story about energy efficiency and I was rigging the camera to film inside a Toyota Prius (hybrid battery / petrol engine car). A small commercial airport was nearby and as I had the camera in bits (filming a reporter speaking to camera in a right-hand-drive car is not easy - I remove most items and jury-rig the viewfinder at an angle so I can view while sitting in the front left passenger seat) I heard some sirens from the distance. I rang it in to our newsdesk, and carried on sorting my gear in preparation. Then I heard more sirens, and saw police and ambulances racing to the airport in the distance. I said some bad words, and realised I had no choice. Murphy had struck again - I had to stop what I was doing, and rebuild the camera to it's normal configuration, leave our satellite truck (we had been feeding some material across to the studio for the lunchtime news) my reporter and the car showroom manager chatting somewhere inside, and off I went. I know the area well, and it didn't take me long to see what the trouble was, and only a few more minutes to pick my vantage point. An ancient Tiger Moth (biplane) had been doing some circuits, and had obviously been landing or taking off when a wheel had collapsed, and it was sitting on a grass runway adjacent to the main tarmac runway, at an odd angle, but aside from the undercarriage, all intact. Fire and rescue service in attendance, and an ambulance. I shot a few minutes of material, and popped back to our satellite truck, and with 5 minutes to go, we had some pictures for the lunch bulletin. I was relieved it was only a minor incident (and minor injuries it later transpired) and I carried on reconfiguring the camera for the car shoot, which we did and I missed my lunch, oh well, that's most days ;-) A small illustration. I could have ignored the sirens and carried on with the car shoot, meaning I would later have got some shots of the stricken plane before it was removed (or possibly a devastating incident with many dead) and I would still have been doing my job. Anyone working in news and with an ounce of pride about them would have gone the extra mile, it's just the way it goes. I take my hat off to colleagues working in New Orleans, and in fact many many troubled places on the Earth, especially war zones. Without them doing what they do, we wouldn't see these things for ourselves, and (arguably) know the truth. The way the pictures are presented to us can be debated until the cows come home, but the actual pictures tell their own story, and there's no denying the woeful horror of a tiny baby with pipe-cleaner arms and legs unable to take in what little pale white nourishment his mother can offer. Best, Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=====| http://www.cottysnaps.com _____________________________
