Station Reaches Out to Hostage Taker on Facebook During Stand Off
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Gary Wayne Lindsey (right) was the suspect in which an Orlando Police Officer was shot in the head. Lindsey then barricaded himself in an apartment with four children and police negotiators were talking to the suspect and trying to get him to release the kids and give himself up.
While the hostage negotiations were going on for hours a staffer at Cox owned WFTV reached out to Lindsey on Facebook.
Lindsey responded to the station and an hours-long conversation began.
Why anyone working at a news station would think this is OK is beyond us? Here are 4 kids being held hostage by a guy that is accused of shooting a cop and during police negotiations, you contact the guy on social media?
WTF?!
The Orlando Sentinel writes that during its newscast at 6 p.m. Tuesday, WFTV said it immediately contacted the Orlando Police Department after making contact with Lindsey — which sent several officers to the station and oversaw the conversation. But experts in journalism ethics and law-enforcement tactics questioned the outlet’s decision to initiate contact with a violent suspect during an active and volatile situation.
“During active hostage situations, it is very dangerous for the press to contact anybody involved in the situation because it can cost somebody else their life,” said Kelly McBride, the vice president of The Poynter Institute, a nonprofit school for journalists which often poses questions about ethical dilemmas. “The best practice is to report the situation from a distance.”
Matt Parcell, WFTV’s news director, declined to comment when reached by the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday.
Sgt. Eduardo Bernal, an Orlando police spokesman, confirmed WFTV initiated the conversation with Lindsey. Authorities are still sorting through the messages, he said.
“We would advise anyone, media or not, to not contact anyone involved in an active incident,” he said. “We have personnel specifically trained to handle these types of incidents and contact by an untrained person can increase the dangers associated with an already volatile situation.”
During Lindsey’s conversation with WFTV, which the station later reported on air and on its website, he said he told authorities that he would release the children only if he had the opportunity to speak with his ex-girlfriend — the victim of the original domestic-violence call to which police responded.
If you are hoping for a happy ending to this story, there is not one. Lindsey killed the 4 children and then killed himself.
Detectives say the children were likely killed in their beds before or shortly after the 21-hour standoff began, before the TV station reached out to Lindsey on Facebook.
But, it was still a stupid thing to do and if someone doesn't lose their job over this we would be surprised.
“This wasn't a case of obtaining an interview after the event had concluded,” said Clay Calvert, a professor of mass communication at the University of Florida “This was a case of a news organization injecting itself directly into the vortex of a dangerous event and possibly interfering with roles typically played by law enforcement officials ... We expect journalists to report the news, not to become part of it."
