On the way to work this morning, I heard 2 stories on the Philly AM news station, KYW 1060.
First, that at approx 2:30 am, a 19 year-old man riding a bike was approached by a car, shot off his bike and shot some more while on the ground. He didn't survive, "having suffered multiple guns shots to the torso and head." This phrase was repeated twice. About 2 minute's worth of coverage, with a live eye-witness's account (who sounded half in the bag) taking about a minute of the total report time.
Just before announcing the time and temp, and going to commercial, it was reported also that a 78 year-old man shot a would-be carjacker. The perp is in critical condition, and is being charged with attempted robbery and some other things. They mentioned that the elderly gentlemen had "a firearm's license holder...." and then faded to commercial. About 10 seconds total coverage.
I give them credit for reporting the CCW incident at all, but in this city, with the seemingly daily shootings, the CCW incident is the news, not the bicyclist. I realize no one died in the carjacking story, which makes it less significant than the murder, in the media's eyes, but I couldn't help but get a little peeved at how the "good" story was downplayed so significantly. The fact that the CCW is 78 is probably the only reason they reported it at all, trying to make it a "haha, he messed with the wrong grandpa" story, instead of a "CCW is a good way to keep from being killed for your car" story.
First, that at approx 2:30 am, a 19 year-old man riding a bike was approached by a car, shot off his bike and shot some more while on the ground. He didn't survive, "having suffered multiple guns shots to the torso and head." This phrase was repeated twice. About 2 minute's worth of coverage, with a live eye-witness's account (who sounded half in the bag) taking about a minute of the total report time.
Just before announcing the time and temp, and going to commercial, it was reported also that a 78 year-old man shot a would-be carjacker. The perp is in critical condition, and is being charged with attempted robbery and some other things. They mentioned that the elderly gentlemen had "a firearm's license holder...." and then faded to commercial. About 10 seconds total coverage.
I give them credit for reporting the CCW incident at all, but in this city, with the seemingly daily shootings, the CCW incident is the news, not the bicyclist. I realize no one died in the carjacking story, which makes it less significant than the murder, in the media's eyes, but I couldn't help but get a little peeved at how the "good" story was downplayed so significantly. The fact that the CCW is 78 is probably the only reason they reported it at all, trying to make it a "haha, he messed with the wrong grandpa" story, instead of a "CCW is a good way to keep from being killed for your car" story.
