Your "sensational" experience

[overthehill]

So tell us about stories you've covered or helped cover that are "sensational" from a media perspective.

What made them "sensational?"

Was there any debate in the newsroom about how to cover or from viewers?

[Spike]

I once covered a story on a coven of witches in a small town, in which the reporter went around to the Christians in the neighborhood informing them they had witches for neighbors and encouraging them to protest in front of the witches' house at 5pm so that they would be a good backdrop for our live shot.

"Do you or the members of your church have any plans to protest?"

"Uh, naw. I didn' even know about it."

"Now that you know about it, would you protest?"

"Uh, well, yeah. I can call my pastor."

And she did. And the reporter made sure everyone knew we would be set up in front of the house from 5pm to 6:30. And they came, with their bibles and their protest signs.

The witches, on the other hand, being very nice young people, welcomed our crew back that night for a ritual they were holding in their back yard. The reporter of course made sure the protesters knew the ritual would be taking place. As the witches conducted their ceremony, Christians lined the fence along their back yard, screaming at them and spitting on them.

The whole thing was disgusting. The reporter still works there. He's the station's "go to guy" for any story that needs a scandalous edge and negotiable ethics.

[The Fedora]

Hmmm, that story sounds kinda familiar.

[that's life]

I'm not in the news so I can't have an opinion from that standpoint- but as a viewer, the most sensational news would have to be either 9/11 or Katrina- they're both extemely powerful stories and complex as well.

[The Fedora]

not quite the same definition of sensational.

[Spike]

I guess we need to specify whether we're talking about sensational stories or sensationalized stories.

Mine was definitely sensationalized. Otherwise it wasn't really that sensational. The most sensational story coverage in which I participated was probably the DC snipers.

[Gil]

1. Various body parts discovered in downtown Appleton, Wisconsin... finally traced to an old woman who was disposing of her dead husband (no idea how he died, because she never spoke again). The man's head finally located in the parking lot of the local newspaper.

2. The race riots in Milwaukee at the end of July, 1967. The first time I was shot at.

3. On New Year's Day, 1975, the Menominee Warriors took over the Alexian Brothers Novitiate in Gresham, Wisconsin and held it for 34 days. They exchanged thousands of rounds with the National Guard, and no one was hit. I was the first reporter on the scene.

4. The preliminary and trials of the five Menominee Warriors for the takeover. One suspect landing a gob in the judge's face, and another proclaiming, "Your laws do not apply to me. I am a citizen of the Menominee Nation." Riots outside the courthouse. Defendants bound and gagged during the prelim, and eventually found guilty. One later shot to death by the sheriff not long after getting out of prison.

5. The murder of 9-year-old Lisa French in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on Halloween, the discovery of her body in a trash bag, and the subsequent trial of her killer. The tabloids dubbed it "Lisa and the Halloween Monster."

6. Protests against the Tyrone Nuclear Power Plant project in Durand, Wisconsin, that finally resulted in the project being abandoned. It would have sent electric power to the Twin Cities, but big business lost.

7. A series of intruder shootings in Rochester, NY where the use of deadly force was debated, and a convicted burgler in prison told us during a live town meeting, "The only thing I ever feared was a homeowner with a gun." The mother of one of the victims attended and spoke live on the air, unexpectedly. Her grief was astounding live television.

8. A series of nursing home murders in Grand Rapids, MI where the aides were killing the patients, and the amazing public relations job done for the owners of the nursing home. At roughly the same time, a monkey bite killed a researcher in Kalamazoo, and the company's PR was atrocious, eventually leading to the loss of the company by the manager and principal stockholder. An amazing contrast in how public relations makes a difference.

9. The murder of a TV anchor woman in Battle Creek by her estranged husband, who had been a police science instructor and who local authorities unknowingly allowed to interfer with the evidence during the investigation.

10. The case of Father Robinson in Toledo, convicted of killing a nun more than 20 years after the crime. My involvement was marginal, dealing with interviews with the attorneys handling his appeal, which is still ongoing. The case involved accusations of satanism by a Catholic priest, and other evidence that astounded - and divided - the community.



I am sure there are more, but when I think about just these ten stories I was involved with over the years, I realize the powerful attraction of working in news... and as my career winds down to the end, how fortunate I have been to bear witness to such amazing events.

[ShakAttack]

1. Various body parts discovered in downtown Appleton, Wisconsin... finally traced to an old woman who was disposing of her dead husband (no idea how he died, because she never spoke again). The man's head finally located in the parking lot of the local newspaper.

2. The race riots in Milwaukee at the end of July, 1967. The first time I was shot at.

3. On New Year's Day, 1975, the Menominee Warriors took over the Alexian Brothers Novitiate in Gresham, Wisconsin and held it for 34 days. They exchanged thousands of rounds with the National Guard, and no one was hit. I was the first reporter on the scene.

4. The preliminary and trials of the five Menominee Warriors for the takeover. One suspect landing a gob in the judge's face, and another proclaiming, "Your laws do not apply to me. I am a citizen of the Menominee Nation." Riots outside the courthouse. Defendants bound and gagged during the prelim, and eventually found guilty. One later shot to death by the sheriff not long after getting out of prison.

5. The murder of 9-year-old Lisa French in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on Halloween, the discovery of her body in a trash bag, and the subsequent trial of her killer. The tabloids dubbed it "Lisa and the Halloween Monster."

6. Protests against the Tyrone Nuclear Power Plant project in Durand, Wisconsin, that finally resulted in the project being abandoned. It would have sent electric power to the Twin Cities, but big business lost.

7. A series of intruder shootings in Rochester, NY where the use of deadly force was debated, and a convicted burgler in prison told us during a live town meeting, "The only thing I ever feared was a homeowner with a gun." The mother of one of the victims attended and spoke live on the air, unexpectedly. Her grief was astounding live television.

8. A series of nursing home murders in Grand Rapids, MI where the aides were killing the patients, and the amazing public relations job done for the owners of the nursing home. At roughly the same time, a monkey bite killed a researcher in Kalamazoo, and the company's PR was atrocious, eventually leading to the loss of the company by the manager and principal stockholder.
An amazing contrast in how public relations makes a difference.

9. The murder of a TV anchor woman in Battle Creek by her estranged husband, who had been a police science instructor and who local authorities allowed to interfer with the evidence during the investigation.

10. The case of Father Robinson in Toledo, convicted of killing a nun more than 20 years after the crime. My involvement was marginal, dealing with interviews with the attorneys handling his appeal, which is still ungoing. The case involved accusations of satanism by a Catholic priest, and evidence that astounded the community.



I am sure there are more, but when I think about just these ten stories I was involved with over the years, I realize the powerful attraction of working in news... and as my career winds down to the end, how fortunate I have been to bear witness to such amazing events.

What an illustrious career :worship: . Thanks for sharing, Gil.

[Jax]

A few months ago I was wrapping up my shift on the Assignment Desk when a phone call came in. The woman on the other end said O.J. was currently being questioned by police about a robbery. The first thing I said was "bullsh!t".

She explained that her husband was a cop and read her the details of the call off his computer screen to her. She sounded legit.

It was 10:50pm and we went on at 11. I paged a cop friend of mine working that night. While waiting for him to get back, I gave my producer the details and had her write it up real quick and then float it. In the meantime I sent 2 photogs to the casino and wrote up a story for our website and saved it to draft.

My friend got back at about 11:02pm with confirmation of the details. We went to air with it at 11:05 and the story hit the website about the same time.

We were the only ones with it that night, the only ones with actual cop video at the casino and no one else knew about it until CBS National ran it at 5:00am EST.

It felt really good to catch the other stations with their pants down on such a huge story.

[Jane Craig]

My story is small-potatoes (especially compared to Gil's Top Ten) but was exciting at the time. I came home to find all manner of cops (fed, state, local -- uniformed and plainclothes) in and around my building. They told me there was a multi-location drug bust going down and they were waiting for a warrant to break into a unit (no one home -- occupants already in custody) down the hall from mine.

I went home, called the desk and asked if they'd heard about a big drug bust. They said yes but they couldn't get locations pried out of anyone. So I gave them my address and promised to eat the appropriate amount of crow if it turned out to be nothing. I put on a pot of coffee and a batch of brownies, made friends with the officers, and told them if they wanted to use the bathroom, get something to drink or call home while they were waiting, they were welcome. Some of them came in to watch parts of "Hill Street Blues," which was a nicely ironic use of the invitation.

We led the late news live outside my building -- and again at noon the next day. No other station had any of the locations and our crews kept getting asked how they found out. They just smiled and told them, "We have our sources."

It turned out the bust was quite a big deal and we had the jump -- made me feel good and it was exciting while it lasted (especially because I knew there wouldn't be anything scary in my building that night). The AE was skeptical when I first called in -- but let me know she was really glad I made the "I think this might be something" call.

[ISTHISTHINGON?]

My SENSATIONAL story isn't much of a story, it's an job-related experience. I read to elementary schools every week. I make it animated, and let the kids be a part of the reading experience. Last month, a 3rd grader (from a rural school that gets crap in attention/funding/programs compared to others in the area) ran up to me after a reading and gave me a note. It was titled "the best day ever" (I had read to the class before) and described my short time with the class. After reading it to me, she ran up and truly hugged me. I almost cried. The teacher later told me the girl has a rough homelife and that she noticed a small difference in attention after my visit. Sure beat talking about crime all day!:hug:

[s'news]

My story is small-potatoes (especially compared to Gil's Top Ten) but was exciting at the time. I came home to find all manner of cops (fed, state, local -- uniformed and plainclothes) in and around my building. They told me there was a multi-location drug bust going down and they were waiting for a warrant to break into a unit (no one home -- occupants already in custody) down the hall from mine.

I went home, called the desk and asked if they'd heard about a big drug bust. They said yes but they couldn't get locations pried out of anyone. So I gave them my address and promised to eat the appropriate amount of crow if it turned out to be nothing. I put on a pot of coffee and a batch of brownies, made friends with the officers, and told them if they wanted to use the bathroom, get something to drink or call home while they were waiting, they were welcome. Some of them came in to watch parts of "Hill Street Blues," which was a nicely ironic use of the invitation.

We led the late news live outside my building -- and again at noon the next day. No other station had any of the locations and our crews kept getting asked how they found out. They just smiled and told them, "We have our sources."

It turned out the bust was quite a big deal and we had the jump -- made me feel good and it was exciting while it lasted (especially because I knew there wouldn't be anything scary in my building that night). The AE was skeptical when I first called in -- but let me know she was really glad I made the "I think this might be something" call.

Nice story.

[s'news]

My SENSATIONAL story isn't much of a story, it's an job-related experience. I read to elementary schools every week. I make it animated, and let the kids be a part of the reading experience. Last month, a 3rd grader (from a rural school that gets crap in attention/funding/programs compared to others in the area) ran up to me after a reading and gave me a note. It was titled "the best day ever" (I had read to the class before) and described my short time with the class. After reading it to me, she ran up and truly hugged me. I almost cried. The teacher later told me the girl has a rough homelife and that she noticed a small difference in attention after my visit. Sure beat talking about crime all day!:hug:

Another nice story.

[JoinUsForCake]

I once covered a story on a coven of witches in a small town, in which the reporter went around to the Christians in the neighborhood ...The whole thing was disgusting. The reporter still works there. He's the station's "go to guy" for any story that needs a scandalous edge and negotiable ethics.
Wow. I mean... WOW.

I would have had to conscientiously object to working on that story. Thankfully I have never taken part in anything so staged and absurd.

[Spike]

I would have had to conscientiously object to working on that story.

This is the same station where the assistant news director tried to send me out to get a live shot of a thunderstorm rolling in as a weather bump. The management of this place were clueless. Thus, refusing to do the story would have done no good. They still would have done the story, and I would have been disciplined up to and possibly including termination.

The episode did light a fire under me to get the hell out, though. I was gone within a few months.

[Sultanosurf]

OJ. From the Bronco 'chase' to the verdict. 'Knew the central figures before the murders, lived in the locales, and was inside Simpson's home after the verdict. It's still the travesty we in the media are responsible for perpetuating, right behind the botched prosecution.

It led to the second most sensational -- Anna Nicole Smith. How many of us questioned daily what we were doing with that story in a local newscast?

The 'nice' stories are just that, nice, but if you're talking 'sensational' in our generation OJ tops the sordid list.

[Vulcan]

A few months ago I was wrapping up my shift on the Assignment Desk when a phone call came in. The woman on the other end said O.J. was currently being questioned by police about a robbery. The first thing I said was "bullsh!t".

Nice get. A friend of mine is the PIO for Clark County courts. I had a lot of scoop, being out of the business and not prone to blabbing!

[overthehill]

If this helps...

Based on academic research, "sensational" stories may best be considered as those arousing audiences’ emotions and empathy. They contend that to sensationalize is to place emphasis on elements that could provoke an effect on the human sensory system. It may be anger, sympathy, vengeance, compassion or frustration.
An old study, nearly my age (1958), called sensationalism, “emotion arousing. It provides thrills. It is fascinating in a morbid way. It is shocking to our moral or aesthetic sensibilities. It creates suspense. It arouses “unwholesome emotional responses.” It appeals to man’s “insatiable appetite” to hear horrors, crimes, disasters, sex scandals, etc

[kycamman]

I was covering a house fire last year. It was for the Sunday evening 11 p.m. show, in a rural neighborhood (nice houses spread far apart) and the house was pitch black because the power was cut.

The fire was long since over but we had a "lead story must be live" stupid edict in place, so we did our best to light the place for a live shot. We had done intereviews hours before, so the story was decent. Didn't really have any fire footage, though.

The story actually happened about dusk, and we had long since left with our footage and interviews, gone back to the station 40 miles away, edited and drove back for the live shot several hours later.

After setting up the truck in front of the house at about 9:30, we thought we saw smoke coming from the place. But it was SO dark, we weren't for sure. We watched closely for a few minutes, and sure enough the house had begun to smoke and smolder while we were there. We called the fire department.

ONE truck came, investigated for about 20 minutes, and then MORE trucks came. We shot active footage and at 11 had a very active live shot scene.
I'm not sure if that's sensationalizing the story for the sake of a good live or doing one's civic duty to call the fire department to let them know the fire has re-kindled. Your thoughts?

[C St. SW]

IAfter setting up the truck in front of the house at about 9:30, we thought we saw smoke coming from the place. But it was SO dark, we weren't for sure. We watched closely for a few minutes, and sure enough the house had begun to smoke and smolder while we were there. We called the fire department.

ONE truck came, investigated for about 20 minutes, and then MORE trucks came. We shot active footage and at 11 had a very active live shot scene. I'm not sure if that's sensationalizing the story for the sake of a good live or doing one's civic duty to call the fire department to let them know the fire has re-kindled. Your thoughts?

You're lucky they didn't accuse you of restarting it for your shot! You can be sure it crossed someone's mind.

[Eyegetit]

Of course you should call the fire department if you see a fire. I think it's fine to do the story, if the reporter states that <you> called the fire department. Just tell the truth. It works.

[kycamman]

I did make the full disclosure in the live shot that we called the fire department about the re-kindling of fire.