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Another Black Eye for the Media

On Friday, when the when stepped into the apartment for the two San Bernardino killers they literally crossed the line.

In another move to be first and exclusive, the live tossing of the apartment was another black eye for the media. 

The Society of Professional Journalist (which these days sounds like and oxymoron) chided the media for their actions.

“Journalists should feel free to investigate stories when and where possible. They need to minimize harm in their reporting, however. Walking into a building and live broadcasting the pictures, addresses and other identifying information of children or other people who may have no involvement in the story does not represent best and ethical practices,” said Andrew Seaman, SPJ Ethics Committee chair.

FTVLive showed you on Friday, the video of MSNBC's Kerry Sanders rifling through photos and ID's, showing them live on the air.

Sanders showed a driver's license with the full info, including address of one of the killer's mother. He also showed pictures of a young child. Andrea Mitchell who was back with in the studio, pleaded, "Let's not show the child."

MSNBC later said they regretted their actions, "We regret that we briefly showed images of photographs and identification cards that should not have been aired without review."

First off, nothing is no longer "briefly"....anyone can freeze the video and screen capture it, which is exactly what happened.

MSNBC wasn't the only guilty party in helping give the media another black eye. CNN and Fox News were also inside the building. Both in statements that they had been allowed inside by the landlord and were cautious about what they showed on air.

CNN said it avoided “close-up footage of any material that could be considered sensitive or identifiable, such as photos or ID cards,” and Fox said the same.

It still did not make their actions and less troublesome to viewers.

Over the decades there has been a lot of great Journalism practiced, but it appears that Today's media wants to wipe that all out as quickly as they can.

CNN, MSNBC and Fox News might have thought this was great live TV for the few minutes they were in the suspects' apartment, but we can promise you, this is going to leave a mark for a lot longer than that.


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