The grand jury has spoken. It found that Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson committed no crime when he fatally shot 18 year old Michael Brown back in August. The shooting had led to protests throughout the late summer and the decision by the panel not to indict Wilson resulted in an explosion of anger. What were supposed to be peaceful protests turned into full-on riots, with rocks and bricks thrown, police cars set on fire and windows smashed. Stores were looted and buildings burned.
I was at home by the time the decision was read by the St. Louis county prosecutor. I did my part to get the news on the air and online at WBAP/KLIF. Then I watched as the coverage of the aftermath of the decision played out.
I was horrified by what I saw. I'm not talking about the acts of violence. I'm not talking about how law enforcers had to resort to tear gas, smoke and flash grenades and bean bag shots to attempt to clear the streets. I'm not talking about the outraged protesters who defied the wishes of Brown's family and other organizers who had pleaded for calm. I'm not talking about the sight of cars on fire, buildings ablaze and looters hauling out goods stolen from hard-working merchants.
I was horrified by the television news coverage of it all. As a news professional of nearly three decades I've always said it's my job to tell the story, not be the story. Apparently the folks at the cable TV networks feel they are the story. It was as if they were giddy at the thought of being moved out of the way by police or having a tear gas canister lobbed in their direction. Over and over again they talked about how hard it was to breathe and how scared they were and how inconvenient it was for them to broadcast in all of the ongoing melee. All along we know that's exactly what they wanted. They had been hoping for just this ever since the uproar over Michael Brown's killing began months ago.
I watched in journalistic disbelief as reporter after reporter got in the way of riot police trying to do their jobs. One reporter shouted repeatedly, "Let us report, let us report" at an officer trying to clear them out of the danger zone. I'm all for freedom of the press. I'm also all for respect of authority and professional decorum. I saw little of either on display on Monday night. What I saw was show business, exploitation and sensationalism. Those reporters were praying to get hit with a brick or have an officer rough them up on live television. We've gone from reporting to entertaining. If a reporter can get a :30 live clip of something violent or crazy, it'll go viral and their place in history is sealed, at least for this news cycle.
I was embarrassed by what I saw. I wish I could say it's going to get better. I think we all know that the prospects of that are quite remote at best.
That's what I'm thinking.
Rick Hadley
24/7 News