Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 11, 1993 TAG: 9304110024
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: HOWARD KURTZ THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
AFTER LA VERDICT, WILL MEDIA SPARK THE FLAMES?
"Civil War," said the headline flashed by KCOP-TV in Los Angeles."Will It Happen Again?" asked KCAL-TV.
"Los Angeles: City on Edge," warned KCBS-TV.
The media drumbeat grows louder each day. As Los Angeles braces for the possibility of violence after the civil rights trial of four white police officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King, journalists are facing mounting criticism that coverage of the city's racial tensions is being sensationalized.
"The media have really whipped this town into a frenzy over this verdict," Bill Press, the state Democratic chairman and a KCOP commentator, said Friday. "I heard a radio reporter this morning saying, `This time we're ready for anything - arson, riots, looting and burning.' I mean, come on! If it happens this time, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. The media are actually planting the seeds for another riot."
Many news executives dismiss such criticism, saying they are merely reporting the grim preparations for violence. "People are already scared," said Michael Horowitz, assistant news director at KCBS-TV. "I don't think the media have done anything to fan the flames."
If there are acquittals in the trial of four officers charged with violating King's civil rights, news organizations again may face difficult decisions about whether their cameras and microphones provoke civil disorder or contribute to its spread.
Los Angeles authorities have asked the Federal Aviation Administration to consider banning all nonofficial aircraft from flying lower than 2,000 feet if violence erupts. In effect, this would ground television helicopters that provided much of the live footage when rioting broke out last April 29.
FAA spokesman Fred O'Donnell said such a request would be granted for safety reasons if the agency determined that airspace must be cleared for emergency operations. "If someone views that as an imposition on their supposed right to do their job, that's a price we're prepared to pay," he said.
Live coverage can cut both ways. Television was widely criticized last year for airing inflammatory pictures that may have lured looters to neighborhoods where law enforcement clearly had broken down. But KCBS's aerial footage of a group of blacks savagely beating white truck driver Reginald Denny prompted black residents to come to Denny's rescue.
Local television officials have lobbied against the helicopter ban, saying some neighborhoods may be too dangerous to cover on the ground. But critics say live coverage magnifies violence that may be occurring in an area of just a few blocks.
"I wonder if any news director will say that, for every scene of someone throwing a Molotov cocktail, let's show a scene in a nearby neighborhood which is completely calm," said Robert Haiman, president of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. "But calm people going about their business does not make for very good television."
Recent television coverage has been anything but calm, with regular helicopter footage of police car chases. On KCOP's "Real News," a black man declared: "I think we have to kill some whites before they take us seriously."
"You're just incessantly reminded that the city is hovering on the verge of apocalypse," said Mike Davis, author of a book on Los Angeles. "You're nightly immersed in the gore of drive-by shootings. The underlying social conditions that produced last year's riot have been almost totally ignored."
Howard Rosenberg, the Los Angeles Times television critic, said that "the cumulative impact just puts you on edge. You have inexperienced reporters asking, `What are you going to do when the riots come?' These people are the match that could light the flame."
Some critics say journalists are overcompensating for their failure to anticipate last year's violence. "Part of it is guilt over the lousy job they did last time," Press said.
But media executives say dire pronouncements by public officials are setting the tone for the coverage. Baton-wielding police units have been conducting riot training in the Dodger Stadium parking lot, where reporters and camera crews have almost outnumbered the officers.
"Is this calming people's fears, or is it taunting people?" Horowitz asked. "My job is to put it on the air and let people judge for themselves. If gun sales are up, it's a legitimate news story. How can I not report that?"
Rumor and exaggeration have crept into some accounts, including talk of a "Tet offensive" by black gangs. "People are just hysterical," Davis said. "They're talking about shooting looters. There is an image in the minds of white homeowners that some kind of full-scale assault on white neighborhoods is being prepared by black gangs.
"On talk radio, it's no-holds-barred. People of fanatical disposition are allowed to rave on. The hosts kind of encourage this."
Craig Turner, metropolitan editor of the Los Angeles Times, said his paper has been trying to provide "dispassionate coverage" of the officers' trial.
"It's important for us to explore the issues and the fears," Turner said. "At the same time, we don't want to take any steps that could be interpreted as making the situation more tense or exaggerating the tension. The fact of the matter is, this is what everyone in L.A. is talking about. We can't pretend it's not going on."
Shots were fired at several journalists during the riots, and news executives say they are making extensive plans to protect their reporters.
Since TV video was used to identify some looting suspects last time around, some news organizations fear reporters will be the object of increased abuse on the streets. CNN, for example, has shipped dozens of bulletproof vests to its Los Angeles bureau.
Earl Casey, CNN's managing editor for domestic news, said the network would be cautious about replaying violent scenes from last April.
"We just don't want to roll it out as gratuitous wallpaper," Casey said. "We're not a stupid profession. We don't want to do anything that's going to endanger someone's life. But our primary function is to inform."