1962 0 #1 April 17, 2003 What is your opinion of how the media covers skydiving? Where does skydiving's hostility toward the media come from? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sfc 1 #2 April 17, 2003 The coverage is poor Media reports about skydiving are generally inaccurate and sensationalised. Have a look in incidents section where news stories are frequently posted if you want examples of this. Reporters use skydiving incidents as a way to sell their product, just look at what they did to Kapowsin on the TV a few weeks ago. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rmsmith 1 #3 April 17, 2003 It's the same negative story for gun owners. The news media only gives us the armed robbery or gang style shooting stories. Not a single story regarding a situation where a gun's availability has saved someone's life. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Casch 0 #4 April 17, 2003 It's really sad what media has done to Kapowsin. The DZ is constantly being scrutinized by a low life bastage who has devoted ALL his time in to shutting KAS down. If ANYTHING even REMOTELY deviates from exact textbook operation, this guy videos it and gets the KIRO TV station to write up a sensationalistic story to paint KAS as "The most dangerous drop zone in the NW" blah blah blah. Oh..um..[/RANT] Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flypunk 0 #5 April 17, 2003 Unfortunately the media only covers and reports the information that serves their purpose. In most cases it's all about the ratings and not about what really happened, they tell the story as they see fit to report, most of the times without giving the whole story. ... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #6 April 17, 2003 THAT is a load of whooee. Do a search on this web site of "Press Clips". I've been copying them here for awhile as an experiment and I think you'll find that on the whole the "media" covers a wide range of topics from people doing their first tandems to Dana Bowman to, unfortunately, accidents. The real issue is that people (and this applies to skydivers as well) have a tendancy to remember the more sensational stories and tend to forget about the 99-year-old grand mother doing a tandem stories. If you think my sampling is faulty, and it vary well may be, then go to news.goggle.com and search for "skydive", "skydiver" and "skydiving" and see the wide range of stories that pop-up.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zenister 0 #7 April 17, 2003 your right to a certain extent, but do the national news wire pick up and distrubute "grandmother does 20th tandem" stories the way it does "skydiver plunges to death"? And even when they are shared does one market in FL care about the grandmother in MO enough to repeat it even if they get it?? "human interest" (which the first story falls into) simply doesnt get the attention that "guts & gore" stories do..after all dont forget the newsmans motto "if it bleeds, it leads"____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChasingBlueSky 0 #8 April 17, 2003 You will get both good and bad depending on the reporter. WGN-TV won an Emmy for the story on the 1998 300-way attempt (the reporter was also a jumper on the attempt) at Skydive Chicago. Then you have the KAS stuff....._________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flypunk 0 #9 April 17, 2003 Although you will find some of the honest and good reporters still around, the ones who really try to get the information out there for the public to make their own educated decisions on the events, you will also find those who give it their own spin, the media operates on ratings and it is a business not a free service. Now you have to realize that this is called human nature, and its not only related to media or skydiving. My opinion is freshly biased since just yesterday I encountered a skydiving article from from my country they describe generalities of the sport and associations for it and give you several pointers about it. Funny how we have been trying to go there to skydive for the last 3 years without any success in finding anyone who does it, funny how they didn't provide any contact information for those associations which practice it, and yet how they advertise that california, arizona and florida are the only 3 places you can jump in the US. But I'll tell you, it sure looks good to have pictures of somebody's 14 way , some squares landing, and a board exit from a plane says skydive xx on your website, when you are stating that currently you only have 6 static line rigs with rounds in them, and its a not an english speaking country. Like I said, I would like to trust that this is not the norm, but these are the ones getting the exposure, I received prompt emails from friends back at home telling me about this site, when there was really nothing to report, they just compiled and ripped off inaccurate information. ... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nacmacfeegle 0 #10 April 17, 2003 "WGN-TV won an Emmy for the story on the 1998 300-way attempt (the reporter was also a jumper on the attempt) at Skydive Chicago." Now thats good news! The media are very much like a lot of other things in this life, you get what you give. During the British record attempts in 99, one of our stated goals was to generate 'positive publicity' for the sport. To achieve this we did a lot of work with the media, gave them press releases, stills, footage, interviews with jumpers and organisers, access to the DZ, etc, etc. Result was extensive positive media coverage of a visually pleasing event. I think we had at least 12 different TV slots, and some stations covered the show with a nightly spot, including daily video clips. We even had a major national newspaper give a centre page spread when the formation completed. Jump for the cause from the same year did similar stuff, with good effect. Local media also loves "granny makes lifetime ambition" type stories, people who are jumping to raise money for a charity, and virtually anything with a local interest. If you make a little effort you CAN get the media to give you positive coverage. So quit whining and demonising the media, feed them positive stuff, and you'll get positive results! If you ignore them then don't be surprised if they only come round when something bad happens.-------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shunkka 0 #11 April 17, 2003 QuoteWhat is your opinion of how the media covers skydiving? Where does skydiving's hostility toward the media come from? i work at one of the most important local newspapper they never come 2 the DZ they comes only once when our best pilot died in aircraft accident they only look for sensational my local acurracy team won the national championship but the media dont care :(( ------------------------- "jump, have fun, pull" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jessica 0 #12 April 17, 2003 QuoteIt's really sad what media has done to Kapowsin. "The media"? Try one television station. I agree that it's crap, but it's not the entire news industry.Skydiving is for cool people only Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
