This Next Story Is Disturbing

My wife and I sat down to dinner last night and also had the television on to watch the local evening news. In central Kentucky, most folks are either channel 18, WLEX, channel 27, WKYT, or channel 36, WTVQ folks – and some take that loyalty quite seriously, I might add. I wouldn’t say that we maintain that level of loyalty to one, but do tend toward channel 18, WLEX.

I had never contacted a media outlet with either a suggestion or a grievance – until last night. After hearing what we heard, both my wife and I agreed that – whether what we viewed as problematic was intended or unintended – somebody had to say something. As a result, I sat down to draft and then send an email to the management of WLEX, which you can read below.

Perhaps you will conclude upon reading that what was really “over- the-top” was my response. However, I would like to know your thoughts.

Dear Lex18 Management,

First of all, I would rather watch Lex18 news than any other station in Lexington. However, I found a portion of the Lex18 News at 6:00 P.M. on Monday, September 9, 2008 a bit disconcerting.

There was a story about a three-year-old child who had been left by his (or her) mother in a hot van on Saturday for nearly 45 minutes. Then there was a report regarding the ongoing investigation of a Clark County child who had been beaten and scalded to death. Following that was a story about a deadly crash on Interstate 75 which included the decapitation of an eight-year-old boy from Illinois. Though each of these stories was tragic, they are not what I found most problematic about that portion of the newscast. No, that came next.

After those stories, the anchor was sure to state that the next story “is disturbing.” You know, one of those, “the next story contains images that might not be suitable for all audiences” kinds of disclaimer. What followed was a cruelty to animals report about the discovery of a trash bag full of dead puppies on US 60 in Bath County; which, presumably, had been run over many times along this heavily traveled road.

Please don’t misunderstand – I think cruelty to animals in any form is a crime. The story was disturbing. What I take exception with, I suppose, is the fact that the discovery of a bag of dogs was preceded by a warning of disturbing content, but a child left in a van by its mother, the beating and scalding of a ten-year-old, and the decapitation of an eight-year-old were preceded by no such warning as to the nature of their potentially disturbing content.

I’m certainly not asking for a retraction or even an on-air explanation. I just don’t get it. Was it just sloppy writing? Was it just insensitive reporting? Whatever it was, I cannot believe that it was what it appeared to be; namely that a story about a bag of dogs was more disturbing than the others.

Interestingly, I did receive a response from the webmaster at WLEX within an hour, but not really. What the email indicated was that my response was not delivered for “security reasons.” I’m not sure what that means, but it doesn’t sound good! I promptly sent the email to another contact address on their website, but have yet to receive a response. When (and if) I do, I will post it here.

Again, perhaps I’m making too much of this. Perhaps it just hit me at the wrong time. I’m not sure, but I do know that it troubled me. What do you think?