NWR: Poll-ish - 911 Calls

AlexiaANDRobert · March 2010

Do you think they should be public/on the news?

This was prompted because they keep playing the calls from the Sea World incident on the news.

IMO, I don't think it's necessary for people to hear them. If there is a rare case where it's relevant to the case and has pertinent information, then it should be part of the case, but still not something that needs to be played on the news or the radio.

I just want to see people's opinions.

shellydiane820 · March 2010

I hate it when the news plays 911 calls. I think its morbid and unnecessary.

kikibaby · March 2010

I said they should be public, but I only think that's because they need to be public record. But I agree it's totally unnecessary to play them on the news/radio... it's sensational journalism at it's best.

louisvillebride21 · March 2010

I agree that they should be public record, but never played on the news. It's in really bad taste.

bbyckes · March 2010

It's important for 911 calls to be public information. It keeps the dispatchers (for the most part) on top of their jobs. As far as news stories go, you know the old addage, "If it bleeds, it leads."

ZoeTheDog · March 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_nwr-poll-ish-911-calls?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:fd56b8e7-e2a9-487c-a072-99b66a30d12ePost:b28ddd78-416b-4073-bbfc-3ffdd86912aa">Re: NWR: Poll-ish - 911 Calls</a>:
[QUOTE]I said they should be public, but I only think that's because they need to be public record. But I agree it's totally unnecessary to play them on the news/radio... it's sensational journalism at it's best.
Posted by kikibaby[/QUOTE]

Totally agree. Like the black boxes in planes and stuff. Needs to be saved/recorded.

temerityjane · March 2010

Agreed with just about everyone. I find it almost unbearable to hear them on the news - for example, the Toyota problem, a man in a car with his family was recorded on 911 calling about how his accelerator was stuck, just before a horrible crash. However, they do need to be public record.

There was also that adorable 5 year old calling 911 about her dad, that was too cute for words.

sarah0725 · March 2010

I'm kind of ambivalent. I do think they should be public record. As for the news, I think the playing of 911 calls is only one of many problems, now that pretty much all news is basically entertainment. And yet, if something terrible is happening on the TV, I find it hard to look away.

ohwhynot · March 2010

There's a bill introduced in WI to make only a transcript publicly accessible, in order to downplay the sensationalist aspects of, as Capri noted "if it bleeds, it leads" and to spare the families more emotional trauma from having their loved ones' worst moments relived over and over.

Opposing view is that sometimes not just the words but the tone and the urgency in someone's voice and the background noise and things like that can have value as public knowledge. That's the case here in Madison where a couple of calls to 911 were allegedly not handled well and the argument is that the public has the right to hear everything and decide for themselves.

Now that so many things are available online, perhaps the news agencies should just say "if you want to hear the 911 call, click on this" instead of replaying it incessantly.

lyndausvi · March 2010

I think the should be a matter of public record. But I do not see the point of the media needing to play them over and over again or even at all in most cases.

kikibaby · March 2010

The saddest one I ever heard was Brittany Murphy's mom... oh god, that broke my heart

I did not need to hear that.

louisvillebride21 · March 2010

Did you all read the story where the woman called like 9 times and her boyfriend ended up dying at their home?

AlexiaANDRobert · March 2010

Good points ladies.

I just keep hearing the Sea World calls and just think to myself: "Really???" If I was someone that worked there, or a relative, I'd be horrified every time I turned on the news.

stillundecided4 · March 2010

I agree with all PP. 911 calls do need to be public information so people can be held responsible for their actions.

I have mixed feelings on the calls being played on the news. The news stations didn't just go get those recordings. Police had to have released them so there may have been a reason for releasing the recordings.

As far as a victim's family hearing the call, I doubt they are worrying about watching the news to even hear the calls. And even if they were, it might be hard to hear, but it also might offer some closure if they knew people did everything they could to save her (or any other victim).

vallyhoo · March 2010

I could have done without hearing the one call with the people who were riding in the Toyota that had the accelerator problem. Hearing the actual impact and knowing that they all died is awful. But then again, I could have changed the station.

lauralaur · March 2010

I think they should be played if the news story is about a call being mishandled. Other than that, I do not think they should be played. I remember when Tedy Bruschi had that stroke, and I heard his wife's 911 call on the news at least six times. It was horrible to hear the panic in her voice. She was terrified, that does not need to be broadcasted.

britne28 · March 2010

I think there might be an occasional occurrence where it should be public but for the most part it just victimizes the families again. Most incidences are none of our business.

KentuckyKate · March 2010

I agree. I hate that they are on the news, youtube, etc!

Recently I heard the one from Brittany Murphey's mom, which was heartbreaking enough, but I am still traumatized from one I heard last summer of a man in Florida calling 911 because his pet python crawled up into his 2 year old stepdaughter's crib and strangled her to death. He was screaming and sobbing, and it was just awful.

L-Bride · March 2010

I never thought 911 calls being aired on the news was a big deal until recently. One of my best friends was attacked and almost killed by a man lurking in a dark parking lot last year. She was attacked right after she exited her car - thank God she screamed over and over again.
By complete chance there were police officers breaking up a loud party up the street and heard her. They rushed to the parking lot and the video on their cruisers picked up the sound of my friends frantic and disoriented screams. They ended up playing that sound bite on the news over and over again and it made me sick to my stomach to have to hear it. A few months later the news did a follow-up story stating the attacker was going to trial, and again repeatedly aired my friend's screams. It borders on exploitation in my opinion. I think the media uses the right to "public information" as a disguise of their trashy reporting.

NWR: Poll-ish - 911 Calls

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