Virginia Shootings Make for Tough Media Decisions

Submitted by : Ann Dadow

In an era when anyone can go online and find video of extremist beheadings, police shootings and other carnage, major news organizations applied their own standards to coverage of this week's killing of a TV news crew in Virginia and showed only carefully selected portions of the footage.

They were difficult newsroom decisions, informed by competitive pressures, questions of newsworthiness and taste, and an understanding that for all the talk about the great convergence of media, a fundamental difference still exists between TV and the Internet.

"We went back and forth on this — whether to run it, not run it, or just use frame grabs," said Al Ortiz, CBS vice president of standards and practices. "It's not a decision you make lightly. An argument was made that we were doing the gunman's work for him. But the decision we came around to was that it was editorially important to show how methodical, planned and deliberate this was. That's the only reason we used it."

The killings of WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were literally a made-for-television moment. They were shot to death on live TV by a gunman who also recorded the attack and posted his video on social media. The TV station's footage and the gunman's were watched online in full by countless numbers of people around the globe as news executives decided what to show.

Before the shooting was three hours old, CNN began showing WDBJ's footage of Parker conducting an interview and then trying to scramble away as gunfire erupted. The network warned viewers of its graphic nature and promised not to air it more than once an hour. CNN did not air the gunman's own video.

Some news organizations, like CBS and NBC, ran a portion of the WDBJ video but did not use audio of the shooting and screaming. ABC froze the video before the shooting began but aired audio of the attack. CBS showed part of the gunman's footage but stopped it before the first shot, Ortiz said.

Fox News used no video or audio of the event during daytime hours but, after 6 p.m., used a combination of video before the attack, still photos and audio. NBC and MSNBC froze the video and audio before the attack, but a gunshot could be heard on its websites.

The differences in the way TV and the Internet handled the material are important, executives said: People online are making conscious choices about what to see, while TV viewers can be taken by surprise.

"You don't know who's in the room," said former CBS News President Andrew Heyward, now a consultant to media companies. "You don't know the ages of the people watching. So there's always been a very high standard of restraint."

The Associated Press provided to the public a version of the gunman's video that froze when the shooting began, but continued with audio. For broadcast subscribers, the AP supplied complete version through a closed-circuit channel, allowing TV stations to edit it to their own standards, said Tom Kent, AP's standards editor.

"The video was newsworthy and key to understanding the story," he said.

Many journalists argue that their job is to be a pipeline of news to the public, not a filter. Marcy McGinnis, a former news executive at CBS and Al Jazeera America, said she wonders if the public reaction to events like the Connecticut school shooting would have been different if pictures had been more readily available.

3 firefighters killed, 4 hurt battling one of Washington state's many wildfires

News By Ann Dadow.

Three firefighters died and four others were injured while battling a wildfire in northern Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday evening.

The firefighters were confronting a blaze in Okanogan County near the town of Twisp, about 150 miles northeast of Seattle.

“My heart breaks over the loss of life,” Inslee said in a statement. “They gave their lives to protect others. It was their calling, but the loss for their families is immense.”

Inslee also requested a federal declaration of emergency for the state, saying 11 counties are battling more than 40 fires in all. Lightning strikes and gusty winds are expected to spark and spread more blazes in the coming days, his request said.

Hours earlier, the approaching fire led officials to tell residents to evacuate the towns of Twisp and Winthrop, whose combined population is about 1,300, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest figures.

On Tuesday night, the nearby town of Conconully, home to about 200 people, was also ordered to evacuate because of fires.

“It is really bad out there. The fires have just exploded,” Angela Seydel, a spokeswoman for the Okanogan County Department of Emergency Management, told the Associated Press. “We're just directing everybody to head south.”

The department called for more evacuations Wednesday night, telling people in the flats north of Omak, a city about 30 miles east of Twisp, and in Riverside, a nearby town of more than 200 people, to flee immediately.

“The fire was racing and the winds were blowing in every direction,” Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers told local news station KXLY-TV.

As people leave their homes, they have been moving their livestock to safer areas. Fairgrounds in Okanogan County are filling up with animals, the Emergency Management Department said.

The National Weather Service issued a red-flag warning for a swath of Washington that includes the Okanogan valleys and highlands, saying that “critical fire weather conditions” would continue through Friday. A cold front’s arrival on Thursday night is expected to create winds with gusts up to 45 mph and possible thunderstorms, the weather service said.

This fire season is taking an intense toll nationwide. Fires currently burning have scorched more than 1.2 million acres in the Lower 48 states, mostly in the Northwest, and dozens of homes have been destroyed.

That means fire departments are stretched thin, and when they call on nearby jurisdictions for help, little -- if any -- is available.

Dozens of wildfires are burning in the Pacific Northwest, and there are not enough firefighters to battle all of them. The U.S. military is sending 200 soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash., to the fire lines this weekend.

Times staff writer Matt Pearce contributed to this report.

State Department Cautions Americans Considering Travel to Iran

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The Obama administration hopes that the nuclear deal it negotiated with Iran may one day lead to broader cooperation. But the State Department has some cautionary words for Americans who think the reconciliation is already underway.

“This deal over Iran’s nuclear program does not alter the United States’ assessment of the risks of travel to Iran for U.S. citizens,” says a travel warning the agency issued on Wednesday.

“Dual national Iranian-American citizens may encounter difficulty in departing Iran,” it says.

Advisories for Americans who travel abroad are regularly published by the State Department. The latest entry on Iran follows a warning in January, and it was made public the day President Obama defended the nuclear accord in a major speech at American University in Washington.

While many United States citizens, including Iranian-Americans, travel to and from Iran without problems, there have been some notable exceptions.

Iran is currently holding three Americans of Iranian descent: Jason Rezaian, a reporter for The Washington Post; Amir Hekmati, a Marine veteran from Flint, Mich.; and Saeed Abedini, of Boise, Idaho, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for establishing a private network of churches. A fourth American, Robert A. Levinson, vanished there eight years ago.

Secretary of State John Kerry, who traveled here for a regional meeting on security issues, and other senior United States officials urged Iran to free the Americans in discussions with their Iranian counterparts on the margins of the nuclear talks. In a television appearance last month, Mr. Kerry said he was “very hopeful” that Iran would “do the right thing.”

As much as the administration hopes at least some of the Americans will be released in the wake of the nuclear accord, the State Department warning reflects concerns that Iran could detain other visitors, particularly Iranian-Americans, on false charges or make it hard for them to leave.

“Since 2009, Iranian authorities have prevented the departure, in some cases for several months, of a number of Iranian-American citizens, including journalists and academics, who traveled to Iran for personal or professional reasons,” the warning says, repeating language from the January notification. “Iranian authorities also have unjustly detained or imprisoned U.S. citizens on various charges, including espionage and posing a threat to national security.”

With no formal diplomatic relations, the United States relies on the Swiss Embassy in Tehran to provide services to traveling Americans. But there is a catch, the State Department notes.

“The Iranian government does not recognize dual citizenship and will not allow the Swiss to provide protective services for U.S. citizens who are also Iranian nationals,” it says.

News By @ Ann Dadow

Obama's day: Climate change, Africa, ambassadors

President Obama opens the week Monday by speaking to young leaders from Africa, announcing a new climate change plan, and welcoming new ambassadors from other nations.

In the morning, Obama holds a town hall at a summit of young Africans who are participating in a fellowship program honoring Nelson Mandela.

"The three-day summit will bring together 500 of sub-Saharan Africa's most promising young leaders to meet with the President and leading U.S.

entrepreneurs, government officials, and civil society representatives," says the White House schedule.

This afternoon, Obama will formally unveil his new Clean Power Plan, a set of new proposed restrictions on carbon emissions by power plants. The plan is part of a renewed push on climate change that Obama plans to make in the months ahead.

The president ends the day with a credentialing ceremony for new ambassadors.
"The presentation of credentials is a traditional ceremony that marks the formal beginning of an Ambassador's service in Washington," says the White House schedule.

Today's list:
-- Chum Bun Rong, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Cambodia;
-- David John Newman, Ambassador of the Republic of Botswana;
-- Mai Sayavongs, Ambassador of Lao People's Democratic Republic;
-- Sheikh Omar Faye, Ambassador of the Republic of The Gambia;
-- Elizabeth Darius Clarke, Ambassador of Saint Lucia;
-- Sooroojdev Phokeer, Ambassador of the Republic of Mauritius;
-- Carlos Alberto Gianelli Derois, Ambassador of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay;
-- Valerii Chalyi, Ambassador of Ukraine;
-- Ahmed Awad Ahmed bin Mubarak, Ambassador of the Republic of Yemen;
-- Juan Carlos Pinzon Bueno, Ambassador of the Republic of Colombia.

Finding the Value of Your Car

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