It was approximately a half an hour before show time Thursday night when a chorus of 'Holy #@&(@!' and 'Oh my god!' swept through the newsroom. Those of us who were busy preparing for Connected ran over to the television screen where a number of people had gathered to see what the heck was going on. We soon saw a replay of one of the most horrific spills I'd ever seen that had just occurred during the Big Air Skateboarding event at the X-Games in Los Angeles.
After pulling off a difficult 720 rotation, skateboarder Jake Brown lost control on the quarterpipe, and plunged more than 40 feet onto the wooden ramp below. His limp body was not moving. ESPN quickly cut out of their coverage and went to alternate programming… a move that had us all convinced Brown had died. A decision was immediately made to take the X-Games skateboarding highlights out of our show in case the worst had happened.
But wait! After laying motionless on the ramp for almost five minutes… Brown miraculously got up and walked away from the spill without being scooped off the halfpipe with a shovel! ESPN went back to the X-Games live to show the good news and video of the nasty fall was quickly re-inserted into our show. That decision just about as quickly launched a huge debate in the newsroom.
Why had we taken the video out of the show in the first place? Should we not have shown the video of the accident regardless of Brown walking away from the scene or not? If someone was paralyzed or killed during a sporting event, wouldn't it now become news? Should we not show that? Someone made the point that showing the video would have reinforced to kids that skateboarding and extreme sports are dangerous stuff. Not a bad argument.
It also made some of us wonder why ESPN bailed out of their coverage? Should they not have stayed with it? Think about how often we've seen horrific hits in hockey where a player goes down on the ice unconscious only to be carried off in a stretcher. Does the TV station airing the game cut out of the game and show poker until they know for sure the player is OK? Of course not.
That being said, how many times have you seen Greg Moore's fatal car crash or Alex Zanardi's racecar being sliced in half? I'm guessing not very often, if at all since those separate accidents. Many television stations have chosen not to replay the horrific tragedies.
Play sports director for a moment. What do you think viewers should see? Should we have shown Brown's skateboarding crash even if he had not walked away from the fall? Or do you hold off until more details come in? The decision is about as hard as Brown's fall…who for the record suffered only a slight concussion and a bruised liver
--Martine Gaillard
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