The following was an email we received thru
Viewer Feedback. Without a return email address I cannot respond, but wanted to post the response here as an open response to all of our viewers concerns about one of our news stories:
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 8:46 PM
name: Michelle R.
subject: Shocked by your station's insensitivitymessage: My two teenaged children, along with my husband and I saw a short news update about the 14 year old San Dieguito Academy student that was killed today while walking back to school from lunch, when
he was crushed by a truck being driven by a fellow SDA student. My son, also a freshman at SDA, is devistated by this tragic accident that happened in front of the eyes of many fellow students. If you could
have seen the look on my sons face and the tears that filled his eyes when
he saw the pillar and blood that you so graphically diplayed on
television.
What is the purpose of showing such a gruesome scene? Does shock
value and sensationalism over-ride basic decency and respect for this boys family who are grieving and his fellow classmates that are both
grieving and suffering from the trauma of witnessing this horrible accident. Shame on you FOX 6! You owe Ryan Huong's family and this community an
apology!
Michelle, I have checked the specific spot in question and I think
that there is a misperception of what was in the actual video. The fact
is, there is a shot of a concrete pillar, with what looks like some dirt
and fluorescent paint on the ground. I understand how this could have
been confused for blood; especially since the video was filmed under a freeway overpass. However, this is not blood spatter and that is
also the opinion of our news staff.
Michelle, I am the father of four children and two grandsons...one of
my children is 15 years old and he is a sophomore at Poway High School where in the past two weeks, students have been tragically killed in traffic accidents. I understand how upsetting this type of tragedy
can
be and while I am happy to apologize to you and your family for any trauma you experienced, the truth is, in this particular case, perception was not reality.
I hope you have a nice evening and thank you for watching FOX 6.
Sincerely,
Richard Doutre' Jones
VP/GM Bay City Television, Inc.
FOX6 & MYTV13
