And this means you too, Fox!
It doesn't surprise me a bit. As far as I'm concerned the media has destroyed a lot of high profile court cases and police investigations.
Too much media with too little to report leads to the Rosie O'Donnel, Donald Trump fight on Hannity and Colmes instead of on the E network where it belongs and the Berger story is forgotten.
Ressurecting something positive from a tragedy. I had no idea - no thought about some of the challenges mentioned here.
The media - self-serving - as it appears; did accomplish making James a friend; his wife and children a genuine concern as they covered this story. . .I felt the greater 'truth of the matter' - that they really were my part of my family; and as well; felt a sadness and grief as this scenario unfolded. Albeit; temporary; compared to the pain and suffering of those who knew and loved him.
I would add another cautionary lesson as well; Do Not take on roads; environments such as these at night and not at all; unless totally prepared for the unthinkable.
Time lost can become just that. . .
Seems the more eyes in the sky the better to me.
How about we bring the state of Oregon into this and put a little less blame on the Media which was doing what they do best. Getting in the way and making news.
When this story began, my first thought was on the long ago starvation death of another man stuck on a back road in Oregon by winter snows. Little did I know it was almost the same road. Only these folks were found before the 50 some days it took the other individual to starve to death. There ought to be some type of warning on this particular road at the very least. Like no non locals during winter or road impassible from X to X.
Not one word from the state as to conditions that were preventable. Sort of reminds me of the state vs Mt Hood, where far more people suffer death than on the back road in question, but nothing is done. Interesting, the liberallity of the State of Oregon in many areas including not pumping your own gas, but when it comes to nanny state you would think they might be a leader. Apparently not.
Scource of the problem. The media will always follow its self interests under the banner of free speech. The FAA is as much, if not more, to blame for allowing this situation to happen.
Unfortunately, the media (at least in our parts) did not emphasize the need to keep a bag of supplies WHENEVER travelling through snowy areas.
We keep a sleeping bag and a bag of dry food, matches, gloves, a thermal blanket, first-aid kit, and a couple gallons of water.
These items do not consume much in the way of trunk space and are life-and-death savers.
I also keep a pistol on hand at all times and enough rounds that I could use it for signalling if necessary..for example if I heard a plane/helicopter behind a ridge.
I'm sure Spencer is overwhelmed with anger and grief right now. I suppose blaming the media, blaming the forest service, etc... is easier than admitting your son is dead as a direct result of the horrible decisions he made. James didn't die because of media planes.
Nobody killed James Kim but James Kim. He made one imprudent, irresponsible decision after the next, endangering not only himself but also his wife and child.
Compare, for example, the Mount Hood climbers -- their decision to climb in foul weather with minimal equipment was irresponsible, but they endangered only their own (and their climbing mates') lives. When one of them was seriously injured, and the weather turned even fouler, it was pretty much game over. All the bitching and moaning about what the rescuers did or did not do is somewhat beside the point -- a bit like the skid row denizen who sues for malpractice when doctors don't succed in treating him for drinking STERNO.
Kim made the following decisions:
The safest thing he could have done, once his irresponsibility and recklessness exposed them all to going the way of Scott's Antarctic Expedition, was to stay with the car as it has a larger signature and will be found first. You might stop and think that Scott's tent was readily found (albeit too late to do him any good), but Oates's ("I am just going outside and may be some time") body has never been found -- in 94 years.
Year in and year out people walk away from stranded cars or crashed planes and are never found. Capsized sailors who swim away from their boats, too. People who stay with the vehicle are much more likely to be rescued.
I am as harsh a critic of the media as can be found -- I was one of the first to note the Associated Press's alliance with our Baathist enemies in Iraq (right here in these pages) and I consider most of the media more implacable and more deadly enemies than any semtex-suited Sunni. But the media didn't kill James Kim any more than you did.
I don't know why his parents wrote such a strange and ugly essay. Perhaps they are having a hard time with the guilt of raising a kid to be a weak and improvident man, who endangered his family needlessly (and endangered a small army of rescue workers, who saved his family, and would have saved him if he'd had any clue about the wilderness).
Just replay this tragedy in your mind. Would Kim more likely have lived if he had used rational judgment, or if there were no planes but "official" searchers from the military and CAP or whomever up? And when you do that, bear in mind that the pilot of a rescue plane has a duty to see and avoid other aircraft, and that's what HE (or she) is watching for. OTHER people on the rescue plane act as observers, to try to spot the survivor -- that's what THEY are watching for.
The outdoors can kill anyone, even experienced outdoorsmen (cf. the experienced Hood climbers). It's not frickin' TV and urbanites need to prepare before plunging in (if you are prepared, it's safer than the city -- safer by miles -- even in a blizzard).
If I were on-scene commander I'd have briefed the media on the search plan, and assigned 'em a sector. They'd have loved that, eaten it up ("This is News Copter 7 reporting from the scene, where we're assisting in the search for the missing..."), and it would have gotten MORE eyes in the sky. Might have saved Kim's family sooner, even though he himself effectively committed suicide.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
I missed the part about PERSONAL preparedness to travel through a hazardous area in winter or other extreme. That is the absolute #1 thing that was not touched on in the article.
No doubting the poor man's courage or love for his family.
That's not the point.
If you are unsure about an un-marked primitive road,for G-d sake DON'T risk it. They will NEVER be marked well enough.
Don't travel off hard-ball road in bad weather with your kids--you'll never really be prepared enough.
Keep this in mind and the rubber-necker chopper won't be an issue.
It seems the more people looking the better but I wasn't there. 3 things are to be expected though. 1. People make mistakes. 2. The media get in the way. 3. Government is teritorial and thinks it knows best and like to keep others out. Sad about him.
Congress, the media, road markings, SAR, credit card records, etc were not the proximate cause of Mr Kim's death. We seem to be assigning blame to everyone except the correct person.
"...we can do the innuendo, is the head dead yet? It's interesting when people die, we love dirty laundry..."
In the article is states that the family(Mom and children) were spotted by a private helicopter.
I'm sorry for Mr. Kim's loss, but to me this article makes him come across as nothing more than a Katrina refugee with writing skills.
Shouldn't even need to be said, but the media will squawk about "the public's right to know...". I say, let em squawk!
Does this idiot think that media aircraft were not also looking for the missing person? Any one of them would love to get the scoop of having found the guy.
And how does keeping private aircraft from the area "help" the government searchers? No government aircraft were stopped from doing their job by the presence of media helicopters. And besides, media camera equipment is superior to most equipment in military aircraft, with the exception of infrared gear.
How can more eyes in the sky possibly be a bad thing when looking for someone?
The primary lesson is to carry survival gear in your car when you are out driving in cold weather.
The second lesson is not to drive off the main roads in snow country.
The third lesson is not to leave your family in the car and go off on foot when you have no idea where you are going and are not properly equipped for the weather. If you have any bright objects, set them out where a plane might see them, and stay put.
It's unclear whether giving the media permission to enter the area contributed to the man's death or not. But that's probably a fourth lesson: Don't make exceptions for news planes unless they have experienced pilots who can be worked into the search patterns. In this case, there seems to have been interference with the rescue helicopters.
I don't actually blame the news media for this; I blame the officials who dropped the rules for them and/or failed to coordinate them with the rescue workers.