Tearful ABC journo in live Christchurch report
Bringing home the stress of disasters for reporters, The 7:30 Report's John Taylor fought back tears during a heartfelt live cross.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Viewers got a glimpse of the trauma that reporters face on the front line last night when 7:30 Report‘s John Taylor fought back tears during a live cross from Christchurch.
Taylor was being interviewed by Heather Ewart from the Sydney studio when he became visibly shaken.
“There’s a hope from the community that they will find people, but alas they’re not. About 75…Â excuse me… percent of the city has now been covered by searchers and uh….” he said, unable to continue.
In the harsh reality of live television, with several minutes before the end of the programme, Ewart was forced to press on with questions.
“It’s clearly a terrible time for everyone there, including reporters, who have to cover this,” she said.
Tears welled up in Taylor’s eyes as he struggled to answer the questions -each seemingly underlining the grim reality of the tragedy.
But Taylor was remarkable for his composure through an uncompromising News moment.
The moment brought home the stress that reporters and crews often face in reporting disasters, many of whom are often on the scene as tragedies are still unfolding.
You can see the scene on the iView replay at 23:30 mins
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28 Responses
Or was it just another case of “reporter becomes story”? when the cross finished, I suppose he returned to a hotel with it all laid on??
Great composure under pressure; I think he handled it well and we are better for seeing this. It sure beats the new Peter Overton ‘man on the ground’ ads being jammed down our throats by 9.
This really does bring home how tough front-line journalism is. The union made a major push for OH&S a few years ago and we saw photographers, cameramen issued with safety vests for covering accidents on the sides of roads etc and people being offered counselling. But in these times of economic cutbacks a lot of that seems to have gone by the wayside – let’s hope this reminds all news organisations of their responsibilities to the staff.
I have been really disappointed at the huge number of journalists from this country – particularly the morning show circuses – that have been foisted on a grieving city whose resources are already stretched dealing with the displaced and homelss. Surely they could have taken feed from the excellent Kiwi journalists and cameramen on the ground already. The story has to be covered but not to the detriment of the locals. It was the same way during the cyclone. Melissa Doyle announced to the viewers that she’d rushed out to the local supermarket in Cairns and stocked up on water, batteries and flashlights etc (Why didn’t she take them with her instead of taking much-needed resources from locals?).