Bob CollinsWhen’s the last time you saw a substantive interview result from a TV reporter knocking on someone’s door?
In Detroit, a news crew knocked on the door of an 88-year-old man yesterday, a few days after three people knocked on his door, pushed him inside, knocked him to the ground, put a gun to his head, tied him up with a phone cord, took $600 in cash, his cellphone, and a wallet.
“We tried to give the victim of the crime a chance to talk to us,” the TV reporter said in his broadcast last night. Mighty nice of him.
Instead, the homeowner waved a gun at the reporter and then reportedly shot at him and his camera operator.
The man was handcuffed and taken to a crisis center, and the station missed what might’ve been a better story: the PTSD caused by violence in neighborhoods.
“Yes, we report the crime, but was it necessary to go back and ask the victim how he felt? Isn’t that self explanatory? I was shocked that this station would ‘create’ news in this manner. I doubt this story will earn the station any awards,” a counselor commenting on the station’s website said.
The station found little support on its own Facebook page:
