COUNTERPUNCH LETTERS : Maybe There’s a Reason for ‘Die Hard’ View of Reporters

A little piece of free advice for NBC News correspondent Fred Francis: Before getting all defensive about how your profession is portrayed in “Die Hard 2” (“It’s Hard to Find Any Resemblance to a Real TV Reporter,” July 9), maybe you should’ve considered just what inspired the screenwriters to come up with such an insensitive and loutish TV reporter. Maybe, just maybe they had watched enough TV news to get a feel for what drives many in your line of work.

I watch the news almost every night, and have seen sensationalized reports on plane wrecks, murders, court trials, and natural disasters that make me cringe in terror. So, when I first saw “Die Hard,” and then, last week, “Die Hard 2,” the character of reporter Richard Thornberg didn’t seem too far off the mark.

If Fred Francis and his fellow reporters don’t want Hollywood to portray them as insensitive buffoons, maybe it’s time they take a good, hard look at the current state of TV news. Maybe it’s time to check the egos at the door and begin telling us the news in a way that would keep Edward R. Murrow from turning in his grave. Until that time, Richard Thornbergs will keep popping up in movies, and you’ll have no one to blame but yourselves.

JOHN McELLIGOTT JR.

Fullerton