Live On The Air

Earlier this month, as Bay Area camera crews were deploying at Pier 14 to report on the tragic events of a month before that, when Kate Steinle was shot and killed while walking that peaceful bit of scenic San Francisco, a masked gunman rolled up and robbed the reporters and their camera operators. One of them was pistol whipped, and it all happened on live TV. This was not the first time that a news crew was attacked. While reporting on a Powerball winner whose ticket came from a local doughnut shop a different reporter and his cameraman were robbed of their equipment by two men in masks. Television news may not be the glamorous career it had first appeared to be.
Especially now. Across the country in Virginia, a pair of television journalists were shot and killed during a live broadcast. In this case, the shooter turned out to be a disgruntled former co-worker who then crashed his car and shot himself. But not before posting first person video of the event on his Facebook page. I suppose we should be happy to know that keeping the public informed was one of the last things that went through his head. Along with the bullet.
So it turns out that TV News isn't all the hype and glory that we might once have thought, after watching Network and Broadcast News. Somewhere along the line, things became a little more dangerous than Ted Baxter reading the headlines. It's now more on a par with Les Nessman covering the Turkey Drop for WKRP in Cincinnati. But that was radio. One might think that having live video on you at all times might keep you safe.
Unless you're a reporter covering Donald Trump. Donald's shots are currently of the "zinger" variety, but he isn't showing the fourth estate much respect at all. Seldom is the phrase "biting the hand that feeds you" seemed more apt. The Donald had Univision anchor Jorge Ramos removed from a campaign event in Iowa. This came after he told Mister Ramos repeatedly to sit down and "go back to Univision." Somehow, this makes slightly more sense than his attacks on Megyn Kelly, but at this point, maybe it would be good if we just turned off the cameras for a while and gave ourselves some rest.