Exploiting emotions

Analysis:

This crime story is reported on in much the same way that most crime stories are, with little relevance to the community. The first part of the story reads as a police report, which is probably what channel 13 relied on – where and when the shooting occurred, how many gun shots fired and what neighbors heard.

The rest of the story is pretty much devoted to comments from friends and family. Here viewers are provided with emotional commentary, with one family members crying more than talking. Viewers should ask why are these scenes run? What value does it have for members of the community to see the pain of the victim’s family right after the shooting occurred? What might be more useful to the community would be information on resources available for family members of victims, violence prevention resources, support group information and neighborhood watch contacts. Instead viewers are left with the raw emotion of loss. The story ends with more police provided information and a teaser to get people to keep the channel there, “Again this shooting is not believed to be connected to the others this week, but there is one coincidence between 2 of them. We’ll explain at 6.”

Story:

WZZM 13 News reader – Three shootings in a week have left 2 people dead. It all happened on the southeast side of Grand Rapids. The latest last night on Alto Street. WZZM 13’s Kathy Reynolds is in the newsroom with details.

Reporter – Well Lee police say that none of the cases are related. Each one was individually targeted. Still the family of this latest victim is questioning who would want to hurt Derrick Davis. The 30 year old father of 4 was living with his sister at the time of the shooting. Police say that a 2:30 this morning Davis was inside the home on Alto street standing at the door. Neighbors heard 6 gunshots, Davis’s sister found him dead. Police say that bullets had gone through the door.

Family member of the victim #1 – Who ever did this to my son…Oh I wish they would catch them…..he is a father of many. Oh my God he is going to be missed.

Family member of the victim #2 – Derrick is not into gangs, see he is too old to be in a gang, you know. So, he is not in a gang, he’s just been working, you know trying to reconnect with his family.

Friend – If he could hear us now we’d just want to say we still love you ….we want to make sure they catch whoever did it.

Reporter – Police have no suspects, no motive in this case, but there has been a history of violence in that house, including 2 previous shootings. Anyone with information is asked to call Grand Rapids Police. Again this shooting is not believed to be connected to the others this week, but there is one coincidence between 2 of them. We’ll explain at 6.

Total Time – 1 minute and 40 seconds