Holocaust Museum Shooting

It's so disorganized... Chaos. Jane/Jenn P is in DC now with her family-- isn't she? I think these are her dates- I hope she's not on the mall today.

We were on the mall. We had just come out of the Air & Space Museum and were having lunch on the patio. We heard all sorts of sirens, and saw several helicopters and dh and I looked at each other and said "This can't be good." As we were leaving the patio I heard a teenager saying "There was a shooting at the Holocaust Museum.", but he said it in a punk-jerk way, and I thought he was being facetious.

We'd finished our day on the Mall (we drove up to Hershey this afternoon) and walked back to our Metro stop (the Smithsonian, which is on the corner of the street where the Holocaust Museum is). The street was blocked off, of course, and as the policeman waved us across we asked him what happened, which is when we realized those kids weren't being jerks.

It just makes me sick. It's so sad, of course, but it also makes me think of all of the crowded lines and places we were, and that a maniac like that could have been anywhere. I swear I'm considering never leaving home again.

I just popped over here b/c Suz wrote that some folks were asking about us on my FB page. Back to researching alternate plans for rain at Hershey Park.

[NYCHoosier]

So sad! I was serving jury duty today, and they had TV's on in the waiting room. One witness talked about how she'd had an interaction with the now deceased guard earlier that day and how he was a really nice guy. From the descriptions it sounded like he wasn't going to make it. Then the mayor announced his condition was "grave" but I was still hoping he'd pull through somehow...

Agreed that Gibbs did a bad job. I couldn't even understand what he was saying. Then I became doubly sad because I remembered Tony Snow. I think I should stop watching the news.

[peggyfromwastate]

The sad thing was the interview the local news did-- it must have been fewer than 2 hours after the shooting, and they tracked down the guard's son. He's 11. They have footage of him riding his scooter through the neighborhood, looking totally normal. Then as the interviewer is asking prodding questions, you can just see as the kid realizes that this is for real. His dad is actually dead. By the end of the interview, he'd gone from being sort of smiling, confidant, interested in the cameras to completely shattered, biting his lip, trying not to cry, and unable to even speak.

DH and I were both sick. It was so horrible and exploitive. I promised DH that if he gets killed by some wacko I'm not even answering the door to the press. I would never sign a release for my kids to be on camera. Just awful.

[MrsK]

That's horrible. What network was it? Most network news agencies have rules prohibiting their reporters from doing that.

[peggyfromwastate]

Fox 5-- It isn't the first time I've seen it. I'm sure that the boy's mother signed a release.

[MrsK]

Fox is notorious for that sort of stuff -- "If it bleeds, it leads" Still, at ABC/NBC/CNN, the reporter would have been fired regardless of whatever release was obtained.

[GrayMatterWife]

Fox is notorious for that sort of stuff -- "If it bleeds, it leads" Still, at ABC/NBC/CNN, the reporter would have been fired regardless of whatever release was obtained.

That was the local, independent Fox channel, not FOXNews. That didn't run on FOXNews, that I know of.

FOXNews is the one that Obama's Administration is always bad-mouthing, because they employ conservative, as well as liberal, commentators. The one that beats the heck out of all the other cable news stations every night in prime time.

[DCJenn]

Now don't go bashing my Keith. I loves me some Keith.

and the local Fox affiliates are by far the worst, in any city I've ever been in. Juan Williams in Big Fox is awesome. I hope they pay him a lot.

(my 15 minutes of fame came with intros on the radio totally blowing the DX of my clients way into the stratosphere..."imagine being hungry 24 hours a day...imagine eating rotting garbage... etc.)

Jenn

[GrayMatterWife]

Now don't go bashing my Keith. I loves me some Keith.

and the local Fox affiliates are by far the worst, in any city I've ever been in. Juan Williams in Big Fox is awesome. I hope they pay him a lot.

Keith? Oh, ugh! Really, you like him? He's the liberal equivalent of Glenn Beck! (But with much lower ratings...)

Never seen the local Fox that's at issue. I'll take your word for it. Almost everywhere, it seems, local news is so awful. I don't watch in here in STL. I wouldn't know a local anchor if I ran into him/her.

LOVE LOVE LOVE Juan Williams. Often don't agree with what he says, but man--it takes guts to take on Brit Hume.

[MrsK]

Regardless, my point is that the network news organizations have strict policies about this sort of thing. That's why you didn't see people asking grieving widows and children how they were feeling after 9/11. (Though many approached camera crews to ask people to look for their missing loved ones.) The reporters were told that their employment would be immediately terminated if they exploited grieving people.

[GrayMatterWife]

Bill O'Reilly just showed the clip that was (it sounds like) obtained by the local Fox affiliate. I think he showed it not to report on the story (he's an editoralist, not a reporter), but to make an editorialist point on the incident. I don't think it was very effective for that purpose: who needs to see the emotionally demolished son to know that this was a horrible tragedy? He didn't comment on it; just included it in the lead-up to his interview with his guest. I'm not following why he used it.

At least the news desk is not using it--I have FOXNews satellite radio on at my desk during the day (the radio broadcast of the cable news), and they never played it. I haven't seen it on CNN or MSLSD, either.

It is horrible. Crass to even think about interviewing the kid...

Sounds like his dad was a very good man. Apparently, he took a bullet for some of the other people.

[peggyfromwastate]

Bill O'Reilly just showed the clip that was (it sounds like) obtained by the local Fox affiliate. I think he showed it not to report on the story (he's an editoralist, not a reporter), but to make an editorialist point on the incident. I don't think it was very effective for that purpose: who needs to see the emotionally demolished son to know that this was a horrible tragedy? He didn't comment on it; just included it in the lead-up to his interview with his guest. I'm not following why he used it.

At least the news desk is not using it--I have FOXNews satellite radio on at my desk during the day (the radio broadcast of the cable news), and they never played it. I haven't seen it on CNN or MSLSD, either.

It is horrible. Crass to even think about interviewing the kid...

Sounds like his dad was a very good man. Apparently, he took a bullet for some of the other people.

I know!!! I was so disappointed when I saw that clip again...

I thought he was going to talk about how the media was exploiting the kid, since he's been bashing the media for the past month or so... But he just used to clip to show how senseless the killing was? Or something?

[peggyfromwastate]

Now don't go bashing my Keith. I loves me some Keith.

and the local Fox affiliates are by far the worst, in any city I've ever been in. Juan Williams in Big Fox is awesome. I hope they pay him a lot.

(my 15 minutes of fame came with intros on the radio totally blowing the DX of my clients way into the stratosphere..."imagine being hungry 24 hours a day...imagine eating rotting garbage... etc.)

Jenn

Juan Williams-- on FoxNews you mean? Is that Big Fox? I do like him. I don't agree with him 100%, but I think he's pretty fair.

I do usually watch the local Fox news because it comes on at 10 and I'm not staying up until 11. But I just watch the fist segment. The do this crap all the time. DH and I just can't believe all the interviews of victims' families- but this is the first time I remember seeing a young boy like this. It's usually a mother or father of a teenager who's killed in some gang violence- usually the said teen isn't part of a gang, just an innocent bystander.

[GrayMatterWife]

But he just used to clip to show how senseless the killing was? Or something?

Yeah, I think he gets to skate by in terms of journalistic ethics with using clips like this because he is an editorialist, not a journalist (a reporter). But still, I am not sure how much editorializing was needed about the degree of tragedy... Clearly, the security guard's young son must be completely devastated.

But let's bear in mind: before Bill O'Reilly became the mega-whatever that he is now, he was the anchor for "Inside Edition" or "Hard Copy" or one of those types of shows. I think it would be fair to say that he does not shy away from bordering on the exploitative.

[peggyfromwastate]

True- Look at all the clips he uses from Geraldo's show...