There is an old adage in baseball that an umpire explaining his job once said “I calls em as I sees em.” Well it appears to me that if Justin Pizzi, a reporter at WCAU, the NBC affiliate in Philadelphia, was calling balls and strikes his career as an umpire would be over before it began.
To refresh your memory, a seventeen year old boy made a fool of himself by darting across the field at the Phillies/Cardinals game a few nights back. What made the story newsworthy was the fact that a Philadelphia police officer tasered him to end the kid’s mindless escapade.
This could have been a public relations and crisis communication nightmare. A police officer tasers a seventeen year old in front of 45,000 fans and witnesses. Talk about witnesses on the scene. This incident was without a doubt the most publically viewed use of this police weapon in history. It could have been a debacle for the Phillies and the city of Philadelphia.
The Phillies quickly responded to the incident to cover their bases so to speak and did a nice job of crafting a statement addressing the issue –
“This is the first time that a taser gun has been used by Philadelphia police to apprehend a field jumper.
The Police Department is investigating this matter and The Phillies are discussing with them whether in future situations this is an appropriate use of force under these circumstances. That decision will be made public.
The person was a 17-year-old male who will be charged with criminal trespass and related offenses. Because he is a juvenile we cannot release his name.”
Public opinion has been on the side of the police and the Phillies. A poll by the Philadelphia Inquirer shows that close to 70% of readers feel that PD had justification to fire the stunner.
Now back to cub reporter Pizzi.
First off, I couldn’t tell whether he was reporting hard news or trying to make this a human interest story. He was half smirking throughout the report like he didn’t exactly know which path to take. The most disturbing part of his piece though was his reference to the “swarm” of police officers who were chasing the miscreant down. To my knowledge, and that of the sold out house at Citizens Bank Park, one officer was chasing the suspect and tasered him. The remainder of the “swarm” of six appeared to be Phillies security or ushers. It probably would have been more appropriate to report that ‘the suspect was followed across the field by a Philadelphia police officer and five Phillies employees.”
This was irresponsible reporting in my mind. I am sure Pizzi had the opportunity to review the YouTube video several times before his on air report.
This disturbs me as a PIO. Pizzi’s use of words intimated something totally different then what actually was being played out and really transpired. He took liberties of not telling the facts properly. He reported the story with very few facts or insight.
This guy reports for NBC, in a major market?
Not the kind of reporter I would be happy seeing jump out of a truck with a camera crew on the fireground.
Also on The Fire PIO…
- Looks like we are getting some Respect – December 7, 2010
- A PIO Social Media Christmas – December 22, 2010
- Two Types of Press Releases – January 5, 2011
- How do I Address a Judge? – November 18, 2010
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