Why do we get such terrible media coverage?

[panzwami 0]

I just caught a clip from a show on TLC that almost made me hurl. Here's the short version:

AFF level 1 comes off the airplane wiht a fairly decent exit, student does COA's, PRCPs, and pulls on time. As far as I could tell, it was a successful AFF dive. The only reason it made the TLC "Sports Crackups" show was because the student chopped at 300 feet and hit under a sniveling reserve. But, like I said, the freefall part of the jump was fine.

I don't have any problem with their showing of the clip on a show about sports mistakes, because the student did do something pretty stupid when he chopped so low. My problem is their portrayal of the skydive as it was in progress. Examples:

-When he was doing his COA's and checking in with his instructors, the announcer said he was begging them for help because he was so terrified

-At one point, they showed a freeze frame of his face and explained it as a look of sheer terror. It looks a whole lot more like joyous exhilaration.

-(my favorite) When he was doing his PRCP's, which were smooth and controlled, the show said he "repeatedly checked his ripcord handle, TO MAKE SURE IT WAS STILL THERE!!!"

Time after time, specific effort was made to make the jump seem as though it was some sort of suicide plunge. Even though the freefall part of the jump went very well, and the instructors did their jobs very well, they were made to look bad.

What is the deal here? Perhaps it's a rhetorical question, but I've never been able to figure it out.

Matt
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[jumpinfarmer 0]

The media puts there own spin on everything. Never believe anything they tell you.

[Paige 0]

Process info. for yourself as you have done. Never trust the media, they are usually as right on as the weather man.

Tunnel Pink Mafia Delegate
www.TunnelPinkMafia.com

[RoadRash 0]

It is pure sensationalism......The media believes that people want to see death and destruction, mayhem. You will see a lot of this, especially when it comes to skydiving, because media, particularly T.V. shows want to keep you on the edge of your seat and usually, they don't do their homework...which just sucks!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Fly the friendly skies...^_^...})ii({...^_~...

[bodypilot1 0]

What do you think the general publis would keep watching?
"Watch this skydive"
or
" Skydive goes tragically wrong"

They think we have a death wish.

.

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[aneblett 0]

makes you question all of the other stuff that the media tells you about issues that you don't have inside information on doesn't it?

I feel the same way you do. Everytime one of the Whuffos says " hey Adrian I saw some skydiving on TV last night" I cringe...

EsG

S.E.X. party #2

..It is far worse to live with fear, than to die confronting it.

[DanglesOZQld 0]

Having been on the end of a skydive gone bad that ended up in the media throughout most of Australia and some other countries I can tell you it REALLY sucks to see that some of the reporters just do not get the facts right. I was the Tandem incident in Qld Australia about six months ago and some of the inaccuracies in most of the reporter's stories were just incredible. We all made sure though that we did not ignore the media when they turned up and instead made sure we answered all their questions and clarified what they did not know. The end result was a slight dramatisation on the truth but that is to be expected. Hats off to channel 7 news (Queensland Aust.) who were the most accurate and unbiased to any sensationalistic crap that usually follows a so-called extreme sport incident. They even came back when my Tandem student and the incident Pilot Lisa did a Tandem skydive at a later date together to finish off the whole saga on a good note which was reported on the news channel later the same night. -Mark.

"A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

[Skylark 0]

I work in the media. I've worked as everything from a producer to a cameraman to a reporter. I've even made programmes about how biased, unfair, innacurate and wrong the media can be.

You're wrong in thinking that skydivers are singled out for biased treatment by the media; all 'groups' in society are. A lot of the time, news of fatalities are badly reported simply because, thankfully, such incidents are rare, thus media organisations have no need for a full-time 'skydive correspondent', like they might have a correspondent for business, or showbiz.

Thus when a skydiving story breaks and needs to be covered, most reporters have to take a 30 minute crash course in skydiving in order to write their stories and mistakes are thus made. It makes things much harder for reporters who surf into skydiving sites when all they get are CTLA's (Confusing Three Letter Acronyms )

The story you're talking about was deliberately edited to make the viewer think the jump was far more dramatic and dangerous that it really was. I know the clip you're talking about; for some reason it's in our news archive and yes, the whole skydive was fine apart from the jumper cutting away a good canopy at 300 ft and going in (he survived though).

To put things in perspective, I recently tried to research a news story on Lorry Drivers and not a single lorry driver would talk to me, because they said they always get terrible media coverage. The only way reporting is going to become fairer, is when people stop watching the programmes that are unfair, the advertisers will take their ads elsewhere and the programmes will run out of money. The same is true of newspapers.

"Into the dangerous world I leapt..." William Blake, Songs of Experience

[DanglesOZQld 0]

VERY VERY true. Hence I talked and answered the media as much as possible rather than ignoring them. The questions they asked were sometimes verging on the stupid but we all made sure they had a lot more fact than fiction when reporting the story later that same night on the TV news services as well as the printed media the next day. Also Chris my passenger has worked around the media before and I could not have asked for a better passenger both before and after the incident with regard to the media. He was utterly ice cool during the incident which made me able to deal with it a whole lot easier and also when one of the channel reporters started on the "crazy skydivers" routine he stopped them right there and then with an answer they were NOT looking for and directed the story to the fact that a VERY brave pilot happened to save our lives that day. He has also since started things rolling for a bravery award for Lisa our pilot and I have backed him on this as well. Like I have stated elsewhere the news service that best covered the story also came back when the Tandem Passenger Chris as well as Pilot Lisa did a skydive together so the story had a very good ending. The two things against good reporting from my own novice point of view are the need to get the story out quickly as well as the ability of gathering the information from the persons involved. If their is little time to get the story out as is often the case as well as no one wanting to shed any light on parts of the story then inaccuracies are bound to occur. Sorry to all for rambling on!! BSBD -Mark.

"A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

[Adriandavies 0]

If you want an extreme example of bad reporting look at all the rubbish which has been printed about Steven Hilder. I think there has been one good, accurate and none sensational article, one which used the correct terminology, compared to hundreds which weren't. Some articles for one paper were alledgedly written by an x SAS soldier and experienced skydiver but even these were littered with inaccuracies and sensational content, leading me to think that it was ghost written. At least the tv news mainly used the facts.

Its a sad fact that a great deal of Joe Public is only interested in gossip, sleave and sensational reports and probably wouldn't read or watch reports which discriminate between fact and fiction.

[mr2mk1g 10]

There was one good article out of that by Richard Pedley who's a lawyer and skydiver, (Here). But yes, most of what was printed was absolute trite. People were quoted without permission, they were mis-quoted, comments were lifted from off of this very site, people were badgered and chased by the media, my in-box was flooded with abuse from reporters for not responding, my house mate had reporters turn up at his parents house looking for him. Shamefull.

I can't help but agree though that in some cases this is down to our (as a community) reluctance to talk to the press. I feel this has to be maintained though given fact that in all communities there are going to be idiots who say the wrong thing and who say far too much. There was even an example of that too.

I dont see encouraging people to talk to the press as being the solution, even if this is with in hope of avoiding the crap the press comes up with. As I said there are too many idiots out there, even in our community.

Perhaps one solution would be for reporters to be directed to the local governing body (USPA/BPA etc). They could have a dedicated press office which would quickly swing into action as soon as something happens. If they were on the ball enough to give a preliminary statement the day of the incident that might be enough to satisfy the press's hunger.

Yes there may be dificulties with this system, and yes I recognise that this is essentially supposed to happen already, still to no avail. I see the big problem here is delay. The "official" comment cannot come without a bit of research and vetting. Statements from official bodies have to be correct or there are recriminations. This misses the reporters deadlines and the hunt for that facts begins.

Perhaps DZ's could be coached by the local governing body on press relations, so that the DZ itself can release an initial statement to the press. Still this isn't the solution as DZ's are worried about recriminations too, law suits and reputations.

I think the British skydiving community learned a couple of things about incident management this summer. I think we learned that no system can really be perfect, that the reporter will always be there to corrupt the situation. But that education can solve the problems. As the story progressed reporters learned more, and reporters with actual skydiving experiance came out of the woodwork to take over.

The facts and knowledge to deliver those facts are the only solution to press intrusion. How do we force the news hounds to take in that knowledge? I do not know. I know the DZ where Steve died gave reporters essentially a first jump course, and reporting improved significantly after that. But this takes time and reporters do not have time, they have deadlines.

I guess we have to live with that. There is going to be some incredible crap printed in the first 48 hours of an incident. After that, as the reporters become more informed the crap retreates to leave just the rubbish which the 80IQ public wants to read. But then how different is this from any walk of life? We just notice skydiving errors beacuse were skydivers... I notice legal erros in newspapers cos Im a lawyer. Im sure politicians, football players, and any other public figure feels exactly the same about reports in their area of expertiese. The press stinks, but censorship stinks worse. I know which I pick.

Sorry about the brain dump.

[panzwami 0]

I understand that when a notable incident occurs, there are deadlines and reporters only have a certain amount of time to put a story together. Thus, as reporters are only human, and are certainly not infallible, mistakes can (and definitely will) be made. In many cases I don't see why there is a "need" to print the story in the first place, let alone under a pressing deadline that leads to erroneous reporting, but that is another conversation.

In this case, though, there was no breaking news story or pressing deadline. This program was a compilation of various sports clips from all over the world, some obviously dozens of years old. There were months to research the material, get the facts, and translate them into the show. Still, the decision was made not to do this, and instead to include material for which they could not possibly have had a factual foundation. It is that blatant false reporting that is so irritating.

Matt
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[Remster 30]

Quote

Skydive goes tragically wrong

I had one of those.... My beer was flat...

Remster

[mr2mk1g 10]

That one you mention really is crap. I know the clip you're refering to - I think its from a prog called Real TV or somthing shown in america (?). There's an even worse one about a birdman who can't get his reserve out. He's under a spinning mal (of course this is because hes "adrenaline jumkie madman" or something and is now "spinning to his death"... etc etc).

Apart from the usual diatribe of crap you get from the narator the worst bit comes when he starts counting down the altitude "1000ft... 750ft... 400ft... he must get his reserve chute out soon or he'll be dead 300ft... " at that point you actually see the alti on screen and it reads just over 3.5k!!! the narater just gave him a hight of a couple of hundred feet (i forget the exact) and you can clearly read his alti showing 3,500.

It really makes you wonder how they expect to get away with it.

A little search for "Real TV" will show you how much people hate the program here and just how many people share your anger.

[elfanie 0]

I'd be amazed to know that the reporters who do the "sports gone bad" or "real tv" type programs even spend 30 minutes finding out before reporting.

*snort* just watch Real TV for a few days....egads.

From a tandem video.."He pulls the ripcord and the pilot chute come out, but nothing happens. The cameraman watches helplessly as they plummet to earth.."
umm...that's a drogue you idiot.

However...there was ONE that I saw that, honestly, they didn't seem to dramatize enough. It was the failed bungee-skydive where the bungee broke and smacked that guy in the head? (I'm sure everyone's seen it)
The cameraman is shown as saying, "I got as close to him as I could get to see if he was ok.." and starts describing the gash in his head and cracked goggles.
But what you SEE is that this guy did CReW and linked with this barely conscious guy! Not only that...but he LANDED linked, telling the guy when to flare because he was in and out of consciousness.
they focused on the jump, the biffed bungee...but nothing about the landing.

I can't even stand to watch Real TV anymore. ick.

--------------------------------------------
Elfanie
My Skydiving Page
Fly Safe - Soft Landings

[pilotdave 0]

Here's the question. Is skydiving portrayed any worse than the rest of the sports shown on that program? Yeah, of course they dramatize it and show that they have no clue what's really going on, but I bet they do that for every clip they show. This isn't just a skydiving phenomenon. Shows like RealTV or the scary video shows on TLC try to make EVERYTHING more exciting than it really is. How many times do they show car racing crashes? Do you think they hire consultants to determine the actual cause of the crash? No, they just say "something went terribly wrong and..."

Skydiving isn't a sport the majority of the world is ever going to understand. Don't let that bother you. Laugh at their mistakes.

Dave

[panzwami 0]

Agreed, but when they show a car crash or a guy getting gored by a bull, something has actually happened. There has been an actual event and/or injury, and that's what they are showing. It makes sense to overly dramatize something like that, because there is an underlying event that is, by itself, dramatic.

In this case, though, the skydive itself was successful and there were no injuries or close calls. It is very easy for us, as experienced skydiver who know the truth, to sit back and laugh at such blatant idiocy, but for those who are not so enlightened, this represents fact. My concern is for those who were considering making a tandem or starting AFF, but saw stuff like this and changed their minds.

Matt
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[AndyMan 7]

I saw the show.

The show was about people doing stupid things, and what the guy did was plainly stupid, no question.

The real quesion is "why doesn't the public want to see good skydives?" The second question is "is this a bad thing?"

The first answer is simple - they don't want o see normal skydives because their boring. There's no drama.

Think back to the history of our sport. The true pioneers would jump from airplanes into public events like county fairs and exhibitions - the public would be in awe, desperately hoping to see someone burn in. It was morbid, but that's what people were secretly hoping for. People have never been interested in seeing succesfull normal jumps after the fact, its the anticipation of "will the nutcase live?" that enraptures everyone. When in fact the jumper does a perfect standup landing, a token applause from the secretly disapointed crowd. It's the same titlation that makes people want to see these skydives gone wrong - "will the nutcase live" applies to every bit of skydiving footage to ever hit "You Gotta See This:" or this latest TLC show.

The public doesn't want to see a "normal" skydive because there's no drama, no tension, no relief when the guy lives. The only positive jumps to make mass-media are things like record attempts which usually get very good coverage. There *IS* drama in the record attemtps, for example - because nobody knows if they're going to get the formation.

Is it a bad thing? I don't think so.

The fact is that whatever way you cut it, skydiving is not a safe sport. In the publics eye, we ARE "daredevils", because we engage in a sport that is decidedly not safe. These shows spur the imagination of the "daredevils" who haven't jumped yet, and they inform those who think it's as safe as a drive down the highway that in reality it really isn't.

It elevates those of us who do jump to a level that the couch potatoes at home will never be, and thats not such a bad thing.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[richclive 0]

Some terrible media coverage is due to people wanting to sensationalise the sport beyond recognition. This sort of reportage is always going to happen and there's nothing anyone can do about it. As the cliche goes, facts would only get in the way of the story.
What does help is having an official body for the media to go to so that journalists who want to get things right (the vast majority) can get the information they need. With the Hilder case, the BPA refused to answer any questions because it was 'not a skydiving accident'. They would not even confirm the number of skydivers there are in the UK.
This pushed more media attention towards the DZ, friends and family. Individually. BPA members who knew that journalists weren't from a red-top were happy to talk, realising that the more good information you put out there, the better informed the article and the better informed the public. You're not guaranteed to get the perfect report, but if everyone closes ranks then the media will have to fill in the blanks themselves. And that doesn't do anyone any good.

[fasterfaller 0]

Why , because people get greedy or want their 15 minutes of fame .

[billvon 3,091]

>Why do we get such terrible media coverage?

Some is good, some isn't so good. It happens in every sport. I once listened to someone trying to explain rappelling on a sports show, and explained that rappel devices got hot because of how often they banged into the rock. Doesn't matter much in the long run - no one's going to watch that after their Level I and think "Hey, I better panic next time."