Arthur Pascual: Too Much Information?

[pzarquon]

Covering suicides, and attempted suicides, are a very tricky area in journalism. When I was in J school, and worked at the school paper, the general rule of thumb was to avoid covering them except in especially newsworthy circumstances. For all I know, of course, times have changed.

Still, even if you cover these extremely personal, serious situations, I think a fair helping of discretion should be applied. Tonight, KITV and KHON led with a story of a man who got into a standoff with police at the Best Western near the Airport, and both seemed to stumble quite gracelessly in a story that should have been handled better.

• KITV interviewed a tourist who was staying at the hotel and had to be evacuated. She basically said, "The guy should basically get it over with." Sure, not the most compassionate thing to say, but hell, it was 4 a.m. Deciding to air the comment, in my opinion, was where the mistake was made. What about Pascual's family? What if he died, or dies?
• KHON kicked off its newscast with, "A man shot himself in the head today..." And if that wasn't jarring enough, when Marisa Yamane introduced her segment and got to the line, "put a gun to his chin," she helpfully demonstrated, making a gun with her hand and pointing it up at her own head. That was classy.
• There's a lot of backstory to this man's life, and both stations chased them down with varying degrees of delicacy. Drug addiction. Family abuse. Death of a son two years ago. And recently, arson at his house. There were ample helpings of "allegedly" this and "reportedly" that, but still, it seemed a bit sensationalist. Especially the interviews with neighbors, that were basically broadcasting neighborhood gossip in my opinion.

Am I old fashioned? I'd have expected this kind of cold reporting in L.A., but it just seemed wrong for Honolulu. I'm sure the weekend crews, who usually get the short end of the stick at the station overall, were thrilled to have a "big story." But that excitement seeped through a bit too much.

[wifeofchrees]

Re: Too Much Information?

The other night I saw a story on one of the local channels re a medical doctor who was depressed and ended up commiting suicide at one of the hotels here. They showed her picture on the air and I believe they did identify her. I don't recall which channel it was because I frequently surf the local news channels, although I know it was not channel 2. I thought that was way too much information and felt sorry for her family and friends.

[tiptoetulip]

Re: Arthur Pascual: Too Much Information?

There's a lot of backstory to this man's life, and both stations chased them down with varying degrees of delicacy. Drug addiction. Family abuse. Death of a son two years ago. And recently, arson at his house. There were ample helpings of "allegedly" this and "reportedly" that, but still, it seemed a bit sensationalist. Especially the interviews with neighbors, that were basically broadcasting neighborhood gossip in my opinion.

Am I old fashioned? I'd have expected this kind of cold reporting in L.A., but it just seemed wrong for Honolulu. I'm sure the weekend crews, who usually get the short end of the stick at the station overall, were thrilled to have a "big story." But that excitement seeped through a bit too much.

I've always hated when news stories go too far, as this one certainly did. The media loves to jump on anything sensationalistic, all the better to get people watching your station or buying your newspaper. Lots of people are so niele these days and love to get into the drama of a situation. Reality tv also helps to fuel this craze, creating people who crave all the little intimate details of every story. This just feeds the media to no end. What they did, in my opinion, was insensitive. Makes me turn the station.

You certainly are not old fashioned in the least. We need to show our disapproval of newscasts like that, otherwise we'll just continue to see more of the same.

[shaveice]

Re: Arthur Pascual: Too Much Information?

pzar, i'm not in the business so i'm asking: would a few letters from us to the station regarding this matter make any difference at all? tiptoe suggested we show our disapproval but what, in your opinion, is the most effective way to do this?

[mel]

Re: Arthur Pascual: Too Much Information?

I have no problem with that story being the lead off on the Channel 2 and 4 newscasts tonight. I saw both as the weekends offer the early news at 5 & 6 which means I can watch 4 at 5 and 2 at 6 (I don't do digital so I can't time shift the darn things).....

I think the overriding reason for this story to go to the top is because there was an alleged or actual threat to the public. Not to mention this was unfolding in a public area. (Most suicides it seems to me happen in a private way, hence most newscasts skip them entirely).... The news reports indicated the guy fired a shot out to the freeway. The freeway was closed down and that surely effected the public.

The public had a reason to know why the viaduct was closed.

There was concern that the situation could have escalated and put more of the public at risk as workers in the light industrial area showed up for work in the morning. Sure it was a Sunday, but some people do work.

I think the police wisely chose to end the situation before this guy could do further harm. They gave him ample warning to put the gun down, but sadly he decided to take care of things in his own way.

I don't know why Hawaii has to be so special as to not lead off with this kind of story. It was happening, it's news IMO. The old adage of "if it bleeds, it leads" played a lot in this, overshadowing even the destruction of the storms last night because in this case someone got seriously hurt and the public could have gotten hurt too.

[pzarquon]

Re: Arthur Pascual: Too Much Information?

Perhaps my original post wasn't clear, but I'm not objecting to the story being the lead story - hell, the freeway was shut down, shots were fired out into the neighborhood, yada yada yada. It was the manner in which some elements of the story were presented that rubbed me the wrong way.

Was it important to explain what happened near the airport? Sure! Did Marisa Yamane need to make the gun with her fingers to illustrate just how the bullet entered Mr. Pascual's head? Probably not.

[mel]

Re: Arthur Pascual: Too Much Information?

It was the manner in which some elements of the story were presented that rubbed me the wrong way.....Did Marisa Yamane need to make the gun with her fingers to illustrate just how the bullet entered Mr. Pascual's head? Probably not.

OK, so Ms. Yamane may have gone a little over the top on that, but I was not repulsed by it. The other report where they were asking hotel guests about their reactions to the situation, I was totally ok with that. It is the same thing as if they were getting comments from people who saw a fire. Ditto with the neighbor. I had no problems at all with that. It was part of the story.

[sin]

Re: Arthur Pascual: Too Much Information?

I didn't see the news coverage myself but from what was being described, it did seem over the top. That said, suicides are always a touchy subject but if the situation starts to affect the public, as in the guy shooting his gun into the air and police closing down the freeway, then yeah, media has to cover it and in my opinion would be at fault for not letting people know what was going on.

interestingly enough the police logs classify this as an "attempted suicide" and said the suspect was released pending an investigation. i guess mr. pascual lived then.

[TuNnL]

Re: Arthur Pascual: Too Much Information?

If we’re going to to pick apart the news coverage on this incident, then we need to be accurate. Yes, Arthur Pascual lived (miraculously) and therefore, it cannot be described as a suicide.

Secondly, Pascual was not shooting his gun in the air (which would have left bullet holes in the ceiling). He was shooting out the window. This is what concerned police officers and forced them to close down the H-1 freeway, which was a clear shot from his 11th story hotel room.

I think Marisa Yamane clearly was distasteful in her coverage of the incident, but she is just one pea in the pod. I think other stations did a fair job in portraying the incident without sensationalizing it.

The suicide factor is almost an afterthought to the newsworthyness of this story. Pascual is accused of burning his ‘Ewa home to the ground. He endangered the lives of others in the Airport area by firing two shots towards areas where other people could have been recipients of his bullet. And neighbors say he was on drugs and had unsavory visitors at all hours of the night. Coincidentally (or maybe not so), police found drugs in his hotel room.

I think Hawai‘i viewers have been conditioned to watching censored news coverage for too long. We have a serious drug problem in our state and it‘s time people started paying attention.

[1stwahine]

Re: Arthur Pascual: Too Much Information?

Suicide factor? Did someone try to commit suicide? Unfortunately, Hawaii's Drug problems is hitting a record high. Mental Illness is also growing. Yes, suicide, murders, and crimes will increase. It is better for the news reports to show the reality in which the horrors of what it does. It's time for the Public to become aware and take some form of action...once and for all.

Get involve!

Auntie Lynn

[preciousxanela]

Re: Arthur Pascual: Too Much Information?

TOO MUCH iMFORMATiON?
please!
they gave out WRONG iNFORMATiON.
FYI; it`s my family