THE EXPLOITATION OF 9-1-1 CALLS

BY DAN MILLER
(originally posted November 30, 2004)

I'm pretty sure many fellow journalists and news executives won't agree with me on this one.... but I'll say it anyway.

Whenever a terrible crime or other emergency happens, TV newsrooms -- and no doubt radio stations and newspapers as well -- immediately try to obtain tapes of the 9-1-1 emergency call.

Such calls are often made by a distraught person in a state of fear, if not hysteria.

Personally, I am filled with doubt as to whether such 9-1-1 calls should be broadcast.
Now, if the person who made the call gives permission for it to be broadcast on TV, that's a whole different situation.

I know, I know.... those calls are legally part of the public record, so the media has full access to them. So maybe it's all a question of simple consideration for people's feelings and privacy.

I've made only one 9-1-1 call in my life. It was many years ago, to report a guy with a gun who was in a heated and dangerous argument with someone near my home.

Fortunately, that confrontation ended peacefully, with a little assist from police officers.

But I can tell you this...... when I made the call, my adrenalin was pumping and it was not the kind of phone call I'd like to hear broadcast on TV or radio.

In fact -- and this is the clincher -- if I'd thought my call would be publicly broadcast, I can't say with absolute certainty that I would have even made the call.

And that's what troubles me.
Wouldn't it be sad if someone about to call 9-1-1, in the heat of a life and death emergency, paused for even a moment, thinking - "maybe I shouldn't make this call, because it'll be heard all over TV in the days ahead."

You might not be bothered by this, but some people are.
Some folks are so timid and afraid of embarrassing exposure that it could easily prevent them from making a potentially life saving call.

To hear someone crying or screaming - frantic with unbridled emotion - is not something I think should be made readily available for public consumption just because we can.

Remember when the judge wouldn't release Dale Earnhardt's autopsy pictures to the media?
Remember the reason? Because it would be an unfair invasion of the family's privacy and comfort, even though those photos were public records.

Well, to me, the same applies to these terrifying emergency calls.

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