Petition to Prioritize Reporter Safety

In the wake of WSAZ Reporter Tori Yorgey getting hit by a car while reporting live from the scene of a water main break a petition has now been started that asks TV stations to prioritize reporter safety.

FTVLive has tried to keep the issue of crew safety at the forefront in TV news and asking stations to still put employees’ safety before saving money.

It’s a tough ask, from an industry where most of the executives care more about the shareholder than the people putting on the product.

“No 90-second live report is worth risking someone's health and safety. It shouldn't take a reporter in West Virginia getting hit by a car on live TV to make that clear,“ says the petition on Change.org.

The problem is that the focus will shine bright on crew safety for a very short while and then it will be back to more of the same.

Just look at the pandemic for a good example.

When the COVID pandemic first started, TV management had the staff work remotely and provided them with masks and hand sanitizer.

Very few people were allowed in the station.

While hundreds of thousands of people are still catching COVID each day, look at your newsroom now.

How many people are back in the station?

How often is management doing “deep cleans” now compared to the start of the pandemic?

At a number of stations, employees are finding out that a co-worker tested positive by word of mouth and not from a manager.

The job of a Journalist comes with risks and anyone going in should know and understand that.

I personally have been shot at twice. Once in the LA riots and one in the Miami riots where the news van I was in was hit by a bullet. I have been caught in a very dangerous situation while covering wildfires in Oakland, CA.

I knew the risks that came with the job and I accepted those risks to cover the story.

But, a Reporter should not be at risk covering a water main break in West Virginia.

Tori Yorgey should not have been on that live shot, on the side of the road, in the dark, with no safety vest and no Photographer.

The petition is looking to get 1,000 signatures. Right now it has just over 700.

If you want to sign it, here is the link.

Will it help?

Most likely, no.

But, it will at least send a message to TV station management that many are asking for something to be done.

Safety is the one thing that stations should not be trying to save money on.