Baltimore Mayor Asks News Networks To Stop Showing Bridge Collapse

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott pleaded that news networks cease airing the footage of the bridge collapse in the city Tuesday morning. 

Scott appeared on CNN for a live phone interview during which the network aired the collapse in the background, in a loop.

 "I’m going to be the first to ask that CNN and everyone else stop showing the video," Scott said. 

"No one needs to see a possibility of their family member being severely injured or otherwise over and over and over again because it’s just traumatizing our community."

Here's the segment:

Scott raises an oft-cited question among newsrooms about whether and how to visualize a tragedy. 

Legacy newspapers have long conversed about whether to print photos of warzones that include dead bodies. It happened most recently in October regarding the atrocities in the Gaza Strip. 

Truthfully, there's no right answer.

The Book of Journalism doesn't guide newsrooms on when to show a photo or air a clip from the scene in question. Often, matters of such are case-by-case. Or outlet-by-outlet. 

We understand Mayor Scott's sentiment. The collapse of the bridge mirrors a scene out of a Michael Bay action film. There are dead bodies under the bridge.

He has reason to prefer networks not treat the footage as a "did you just see that!?!" teaser for an upcoming film.

However, the collapse of the bridge is, by definition, news. As are wartime photos. Hard news is often cringe and stomach-turning. It's sort of the point.

Tantalizing footage also engages viewers. It always has. It's good business. 

Viewers can't help themselves. They crave action porn, if you will.

So, hard it is to fault a network for airing the bridge video, knowing that other networks were as well. Had a network avoided the clip entirely, viewers would have turned off the channel or watched the clip online.

Media is every bit a business as it is a service. Executives know today will be a heavy news day due to what transpired in Baltimore. They plan to capitalize on said event. 

Sure, there is a point in which airing the bridge collapse becomes a weaponization of the story. The day of does not reach that point.

All in all, most networks opted to show the video of the collapsing bridge throughout the day. We don't blame them.