I was watching one of our
local newscasts on a weekend evening. Weekends are when “wannabes” fill in for
our very competent newscasters.
How it started, I have no
idea, but three men, the newscaster, the sportscaster, and the weatherman
started to giggle. All seemingly lacked any emotional control whatsoever. When
the camera changed its focus from the group to the newscaster, he attempted to
report on a serious local story. The story was about a man whose wife died in a
Catholic hospital while she was seven months pregnant with twins. The man had
filed a lawsuit against the hospital for negligence because the medical staff
did not attempt to save his sons. The hospital’s defense was (and still is)
that a fetus is not legally a person until it is born. Not a story in the midst
of which the newscaster should be giggling.
Finally, gaining some
control, the young man continued the story by pointing out the
inappropriateness of the hospital’s defense with relationship to the teachings
of the Catholic Church. By way of explanation, he informed the listening
audience that the Catholic Church believes “life begins at contraception”.
Really? They all
still have their positions at the TV station.
I guess anyone can make a mistake, but some mistakes are egregious. Also, even a weekend news crew should have at least one woman as the designated giggler. Or maybe as the serious newscaster.
ReplyDeleteVanilla, we all make mistakes, but most of us don't have a very large audience when that happens.
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