TV Coverage of the Riot
Hewitt’s (a former Reagan Administration official) column, which claimed that live TV coverage of the violent civil disturbances in this city somehow contributed to the trouble, is merely a rehash of the same right-wing claptrap that Spiro Agnew used to such advantage in the late ‘60s--to wit, blaming the messenger for the message.
The live pictures via helicopter did not contribute to the riot as he suggests. Instead, those awful pictures performed a public service--warning innocent people to stay out of the area, and alerting the police, who did not respond, to a serious explosive situation.
Hewitt insists that news organizations should exercise some restraint in these situations . . . that the video of mob violence and no police around to prevent it only encourages other lawless elements to perform copycat outrages.
Hewitt is wrong. The function of a free press and live television news coverage is to inform the public, not to withhold information from the public.
The TV helicopter people who were able to transmit those images in the midst of great personal danger deserve public commendation, not Hewitt’s condemnation for doing their job.
ARTHUR A. LORD, Director, Special News Operations, NBC News, Burbank
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