Posted on 01/08/2005 7:29:26 AM PST by fight_truth_decay
Protest Interrupts Local Broadcasts
1/6/2005 6:45 PM (WROC-TV Rochester) CBS
The Thursday afternoon edition of News 8 Now At Noon was interrupted by protestors. The interruption occured as reporter Elizabeth Harness broadcast live the story of the Highland Hospital power outage.
The group claimed to be a local media watchdog organization. But the group may be nothing more than pranksters intent on interrupting local news coverage.
Three men in costume -- one wearing a flesh-toned body suit, labeled "invisible suit," interrupted Harness's live report.
The man in the invisible suit jumped up and down behind the reporter, while two others approached Harness, pushing her into the side of the broadcast truck, shouting at her "What's the mood at the hospital today?"
The public did not see the assault, as video of the power outage was rolling by that time.
Minutes later, hospital security and the Rochester Police Department detained the three men for several hours. All are from Rochester, and claim to be part of a non-violent media watchdog group.
However, when confronted and asked to give more about their organization, and why they wear masks, they provided no answers.
According to police, the trio asked for representation by the American Civil Liberties Union. The A.C.L.U. said it wanted nothing to do with them.
The trio remained unclear as to what sort of gripe they have with local media.
</guilt>
What's the name of that substitute player?
After the fact it was obvious. But you had to know the story existed in the first place. And how did they know when to look for a stand-up outside the building?
This is not quite as obvious when you think a little. The possibility that someone inside a local news organization may be helping these guys creeps the local newsies out.
If I were working at a station, I would help them out if everybody there was just awful, but for the most part, I don't think stopping the report itself is good for the conservative cause or the right thing to do since you are essentially interfering in the jobs of people and the public's right to know.
Television stations have:
1) other stations on all the time
2) scanners on all the time
3) police blotter stuff
This is how they find out what goes down. I assume the organization running these pranks has a scanner as well. It would not have been hard to hear on the scanner that the hospital lost power.
However, if they don't have a scanner, I doubt it was well-known news unless it happened the day before.
In that case, they probably got somebody inside helping them.
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