Live Hostage Coverage:
What Do You Report?
A mad gunman invaded a college bar in Berkeley. He held the occupants hostage and   assaulted them for seven hours. A student died.  News managers were faced with many sensitive situations.

Hostages, Media and Law Enforcement
In San Antonio, a man held the Archbishop hostage for nine hours.
In Orlando, a man held his 4-year-old son and a waiter hostage for 11 hours at a hotel in Disney World.
News managers were careful in their coverage and cooperated with law enforcement.

Do you yield your air to rioting prisoners --- or risk the lives of hostages?
Rioting inmates held five guards hostage, and threatened their lives unless the stations allowed the inmates to air their grievances on live television.
"We had to decide: do you risk the precedent that is going to be set by yielding to extortion?  Do you risk the lives of the hostages being held by the inmates?" said Mike Kettenring, President and General Manager of WSMV-TV, Nashville.

Ohio Prison Riot:
When Television Is Part Of The Story
It was a dangerous, constantly changing event.
Rioting inmates are, of course, far from stable. But, more importantly, there were many questions about the competence of the state officials. They appeared to have had little understanding of television --- an element that is often crucial if there is to be a settlement.

Police Want To Ban Live Coverage At Scene
California police and their political allies pressed to have law enforcement decide when television could report live in a hostage crisis or in a tense situation where a suspect is barricaded inside a building. In the 1996 legislative session, the idea was shelved. It could always return.

Did Police Lie --- Or Misspeak in Miami Beach?
Police asked for an embargo on live coverage and said there was no reason to think that serial killer Andrew Cunanan was in a surrounded houseboat. There was a body. It was Cunanan.

TWA Crash: Keeping Control When You're Live Hour After Hour
When the big story hits, and you're working it live for long stretches of time, there may be moments when it is very hard to maintain the strict editorial control you normally have. Live has the potential to show your viewers too much. Much too much.
Here's how New York executives managed the coverage of the tragic loss of TWA's Flight 800.

Tampa Police Fail To
Seal Off Riot Area
How do you keep your people and equipment safe and still get the story?

Miami Riots: News Crews Attacked, Vehicles Burned
A police officer shot and killed a  motorcyclist on Martin Luther King's birthday, January, 1989.
Burning, looting and vandalism followed quickly.
See also: Miami Riots Timeline

Battle In Seattle:
Covering The WTO Protests
More than 400 demonstrators were arrested. Damage estimates were in the millions of dollars. News organizations reported on street battles, vandalism and protestors who ranged from peaceful to violent.

Protecting Crews and Gear From Unruly Crowds 
Jubilant fans of the Los Angeles Lakers set fire to two police cars and damaged news vans during an unruly celebration after the team's championship victory.   It didn't particularly appear there was going to be vandalism and violence.  But it grew.
At one point, a photographer told his reporter, "Run for your life!"

Devil's Night Arson: What Do You Report When You Are Anticipating Trouble?
Detroit had been plagued with extensive fires in previous years.  Now the year has passed.  It is time for the troubles again. You can't ignore it, but you don't want to stimulate anything with your early news coverage.

TV, Papers Lose Fight For Prison Interviews
The California legislature voted to overturn a Corrections Department policy virtually banning inmate interviews with reporters. However, the governor vetoed the proposed access, claiming it allowed criminals to become celebrities.   Access advocates said it would allow the public to learn more about prison conditions.

News Conference Suicide
Your state capital crew is feeding in tape of a shocking event.  It's a half-hour until the noon news, how do you handle it?

Extended Live

Attack on America:
Covering The Terror
TV news investigators had warned there were serious security gaps in the United States.

Viewers Sensitivities Key To School Shooting Coverage
It was clear something terrible was happening at Columbine High School long before full, authoritative information was available.

Murders at School:
San Diego Shootings
Accurate information was difficult to obtain.  Students were interviewed with care.  

Oklahoma City Explosion: Covering the Terror
That this could happen in America's heartland was unthinkable.  Even more astounding was the news that Americans had unleashed this violence on fellow Americans, murdering more than 150 innocent men, women and children.

1993 Trade Center Blast:
Terror in New York 
At least five people were killed.  A lunch hour explosion endangered 50,000 people.   Television transmitters were cut off. The twin towers turned into chimneys of choking smoke, and frightened New Yorkers wondered if more explosions would follow elsewhere.

Covering the Murder of
John F. Kennedy
Reporters who were shaken by the tragedy had to keep functioning and tell the American people what they knew.   As much as they tried to report only confirmed information, the news that the president had died aired before the White House ever officially released the news.

A Young Kennedy Dies
When John Kennedy, Jr. and his wife vanished off Massachusetts, hometown TV stations provided long hours of coverage, serving viewers anxious for any news of the president's son.

The Crash of Flight 191:
Tragedy at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport
The news crews had close access to the scene.  They were searching for accurate information, but had to be very careful about what they showed.

Winter Weather Hampers Rescue at Denver Crash
A Continental jet flipped and broke apart on a snowy runway at Stapleton Airport. The blizzard-like conditions which may have contributed to the accident made coverage particularly difficult.

Media In Montoursville: 
Trying To Be Very Sensitive  
When TWA Flight 800 exploded in 1996, more than 20 victims were from one small town in Pennsylvania.  Newspeople tried to be sensitive to the grieving relatives, friends and townspeople.  At the same time, the reporters and photographers were dealing with their own feelings of sadness and shock.

The White Bronco Chase
Accused of murder, O.J. Simpson travelled  along the highways of Los Angeles, and one of the largest television audiences ever watched it live.

Winning Live Coverage Takes Planning, Commitment
Three people died and a dozen were injured in a climbing accident and the crash of a rescue helicopter on Oregon's Mt. Hood. The rescue attempt was covered live for seven hours.  A helicopter crash aired live.

Live Helicopter Video Sparks Large Protests
Viewers watched as Coast Guardsmen tried to discourage Cuban refugees from landing in Florida.

Dramatic Rescue Carried Live On Atlanta TV
A crane operator was trapped high above the city as fire came up towards him.  A helicopter moved in to attempt a rescue.  What do you show live?  Would you show the man slip and fall?

The Oakland Fire:
Viewers Watch It Burn  
It was a story newspeople risked their lives to cover. One of the worst urban fires in California history killed more than 24 people and destroyed more than 2,500 homes. Two KTVU photographers were hospitalized. One KTVU reporter lost her home in the Oakland hills, but kept working anyway. KRON lost a news vehicle when the fire raced up a hill before the car could be retrieved.
News crews set up live positions only to abandon them again and again as the fire raced on.

Pedestrian Bridge Collapse:
Weekend Disaster Tests Staffs 
It was about 11:15 p.m. on a Saturday night.   The speedway races were winding down, and fans were beginning to make their way to their cars, when a pedestrian walkway collapsed.
More than 100 people were injured --- many of them critically. News managers faced many challenges as they worked to get their people in position.

Breaking News Dilemma: 
When Do You Interrupt Top-Rated Entertainment Shows?
A pier collapsed.  The night club on it --- and the people in the club --- fell into the Delaware River.   It was a dramatic event.   Rescue and search operations went on.  Three lives were lost.   It was also an evening when many viewers wanted to watch the heavily promoted prime time entertainment programs.   

Covering Elian:
Preparedness Paid Off
After months of legal maneuvering and lengthy negotiations, the story of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez came to a head with the dramatic pre-dawn raid on the house in Miami where the child was staying with his relatives.   Should the young Cuban boy be returned to his father in Cuba?  
News operations that were prepared got the story of armed federal agents scooping up the boy on an Easter weekend.

Blizzard of '93:
Extended Storm Coverage
Television news operations battled the snow, cold and wind to report on power outages, highway hazards and the storm's impact. 

TV's Early Warning of Tornado Saved Many Lives
In 1999 in Oklahoma, 43 people died and more than 1,500 homes were destroyed.  The toll would've been much higher without TV's warnings.

Earthquake of '89: 
TV Provides Vital Details
It was the biggest earthquake to hit California since 1906. A double-decker freeway collapsed upon itself. A roaring fire covered a city block.  A section of the Bay Bridge collapsed.

Emergency Preparedness: Make Sure Systems Don't Fail
Here is how  broadcasters prepared for the big earthquake in San Francisco, and what they learned when the building shook and the power went off.

Seattle Earthquake:
TV Newsrooms Were Ready
A mid-morning earthquake surprised the Seattle area.  The shaking was captured on videotape several places as photographers or fixed cameras were rolling when it began.   Station executives had planned for such an emergency, and the planning worked well.

Drought and the Challenge of Covering the Western Forest Fires
Three million acres burned before the peak of the fire season.
The techniques the news managers used in Colorado and Arizona could be applied to many other large scale emergencies where thousands of people are impacted by a threat that keeps shifting and growing.

Marathon Coverage
of San Antonio Floods
Thirty inches of rain fell on South Texas. Rivers flooded over their banks. Homes were destroyed. Thousands of people had to flee.
News organizations covered the story and provided vital survival information as the water threatened day after day.

When A Flooding Disaster Strikes:  Who's in Charge?
While much of the major weather reporting consists of warning and advising people about dangerous storms, there can be an investigative role, too.
A large scale disaster tests everyone --- police, fire and other emergency workers, as well as the news departments.
In Sacramento, where severe floods did widespread damage during January, 1997, KCRA-TV news documented serious weaknesses in the emergency response system in the state.  

The Killer Storm:
Covering Hurricane Hugo
Newspeople had to survive, salvage their equipment as best they could, and provide the vital weather and recovery information their audience needed.

Hurricane Floyd:
Challenges Afterward
At one point, Hurricane Floyd was 600 miles wide. This massive storm dumped record amounts of rain.  Flooding afterwards was extensive.  Crews had to be airlifted into some areas where they met people with boats.