Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/11/13/waterlogged-bridge-collapses-live-on-air.html
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I have never understood why news agencies think it’s a good idea to have reporters stand over/in/on whatever hazardous situation is going on. You can get a clear shot with a zoom lens and commentary from a distance, but nope. They’ll just keep doing it until somebody gets hurt and successfully sues them.
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In underground construction, I often work inside and next to ditches.
I have seen several instances of unstable ground giving way. This is not a problem if the banks of the ditch are properly stepped or shored, but the speed at which this happens feels almost instant.
I always feel anxiety watching videos of people too close to sinkholes, crumbly cliff faces, or in this case, sagging roadways. The potential for sudden tragedy is too great, please be cautious around unstable ground.
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I’m glad the reporter is OK, and I send my deepest sympathies to the cameraman, who has been kicking himself ever since for not having his lens trained on the road when it collapsed right in front of him. Better luck next time, friend!
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Drama sells. Viewers may not actually want to see a reporter die live on TV (well, some probably do), but these dramatic pictures makes the whole event seem more real than if they stand far off with a zoom lens. The days when TV just reported news are gone. It’s worth an occasional lawsuit.
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Appropriate that the word she freaks the heck out on is “SCARY!”
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This is pure stupidity. Would she be going near that if she wasn’t reporter-with-camera? And then she congratulates herself for being ‘calm in the moment’, as if her bravery and not dumb luck allowed her and the cameraperson to live. Heroic!
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I mean, sure, that asphalt is sagging, which likely means all the support underneath it is gone, but what the heck, let’s stand on it for the shot.
I wouldn’t be within 50 feet of those banks. That much water could undercut that whole area, and you wouldn’t know it until everything tumbled into the torrent.
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Contenders for the Darwin Award
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Watch a bridge collapse live on TV!
(Scene missing)
How about that live shot of a bridge collapse, huh?!
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Unfortunately, same reason we condone the practice of sending miners into extremely dangerous situations only to pull out minuscule amounts of this or that resource, except w/ TV news the “gold” is information (or the appearance of it anyway).
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Hey, if you show a bridge collapsing, then there would be a public response crying out to fix it, and let’s face it, that outlay would be socialism!
Huzzah PRIVITIZATION!!!
I love her definition of calm. I bet her heart rate still hadn’t normalised two hours later.
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waterlogged bridge collapsed (while) live on air.
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Impressive work on her part, for managing not to swear on live TV. Not sure I could have managed it in the same circumstances.
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100% this–and not only that, she finished her sentence. That’s dedication.
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