The Vuhifellian States
21-01-2006, 01:17
Up till quite recently, I had thought of the mass media as just a form of gathering information and releasing it to the general public, if something went off in an unknown town in Oklahoma somewhere, I would be horrified of course, but wouldn't care that much, after all, it is in some unknown town in Oklahoma.
Well, after this article:
http://www.cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_009174528.html
(AP) BERGENFIELD, N.J. As a newborn boy found in a trash can struggled for life Monday, his 15-year-old mother was at the same hospital, charged with attempted .
The freshman at Bergenfield High School managed to hide her pregnancy, and gave birth in the bathroom of her home Friday night. She took the body, placed him in a gym bag and dumped it in a trash can outside a deli near her house, police Sgt. Brian Monaghan said.
Bergen County Assistant Prosecutor James Santulli said the mother will be prosecuted as a juvenile.
The baby son was in critical condition on life support at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, hospital officials said late Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers on Monday approved a measure that would examine why a five-year-old law providing safe haven to mothers who cannot care for their newborns has not been used more often. The law allows a parent to leave an unwanted baby at a police station or hospital without being subject to criminal charges.
Since 2000, 21 infants have been were turned over to police or hospital workers. However, 19 others—including the Bergenfield baby—were abandoned or killed, and six others were found , according to state statistics.
“This bill sets up a task force to take a look at who has been using it (the safe haven law), and who hasn’t and how can we reach those people who haven’t,” said Sen. Diane Allen, who sponsored the bill. “We want young women, and in some cases older women, to take advantage of this more than they are.”
The state appropriates $500,000 annually for outreach, which goes for advertising on television and radio as well as brochures and posters. Both New Jersey Right to Life and the Human Services Department support the formation of the task force.
Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey has indicated he will sign it before leaving office on Jan. 17.
News of the abandoned infant shocked residents of Bergenfield, which is still reeling from a natural gas explosion shortly before Christmas that leveled an apartment complex and killed three people.
“She had a choice, to give birth and dump the baby in a trash can,” said Jeffrey Lower, a patron of the deli where the baby was found. “She knew what she was doing.”
Another customer, Carol Baumuller, said she could not judge the mother.
“You don’t know what that child is going through,” she said.
“She must have been so scared. She probably had no support system. It’s a terrible thing to happen to a 15-year-old. She’s a child herself.”
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Not quite the same, now that simple information gathering source is really something, simply because of the fact that they broadcast not one, but two horrific town events to the entire nation (a gas explosion two-three weeks earlier happened from across my school). Now I don't mind broadcasting these events to the nation, people need to know, people want to know, but when I observed the local newspapers and some TV news station was just treating it as a part of their business plan, then just saying "It's a tragic event," then immediately start laughing their heads off, I now start to treat major news natworks and some local ones as just plain jackheads.
I happened to know very closely the two individuals(Father & Mother) in the article above, and for their sakes I'll keep their names confidential, and from my POV everything that they report about this is just insulting to both of the families.
But, aside from that, what is the 'online-public' view on the news networks, both major and local.
Well, after this article:
http://www.cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_009174528.html
(AP) BERGENFIELD, N.J. As a newborn boy found in a trash can struggled for life Monday, his 15-year-old mother was at the same hospital, charged with attempted .
The freshman at Bergenfield High School managed to hide her pregnancy, and gave birth in the bathroom of her home Friday night. She took the body, placed him in a gym bag and dumped it in a trash can outside a deli near her house, police Sgt. Brian Monaghan said.
Bergen County Assistant Prosecutor James Santulli said the mother will be prosecuted as a juvenile.
The baby son was in critical condition on life support at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, hospital officials said late Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers on Monday approved a measure that would examine why a five-year-old law providing safe haven to mothers who cannot care for their newborns has not been used more often. The law allows a parent to leave an unwanted baby at a police station or hospital without being subject to criminal charges.
Since 2000, 21 infants have been were turned over to police or hospital workers. However, 19 others—including the Bergenfield baby—were abandoned or killed, and six others were found , according to state statistics.
“This bill sets up a task force to take a look at who has been using it (the safe haven law), and who hasn’t and how can we reach those people who haven’t,” said Sen. Diane Allen, who sponsored the bill. “We want young women, and in some cases older women, to take advantage of this more than they are.”
The state appropriates $500,000 annually for outreach, which goes for advertising on television and radio as well as brochures and posters. Both New Jersey Right to Life and the Human Services Department support the formation of the task force.
Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey has indicated he will sign it before leaving office on Jan. 17.
News of the abandoned infant shocked residents of Bergenfield, which is still reeling from a natural gas explosion shortly before Christmas that leveled an apartment complex and killed three people.
“She had a choice, to give birth and dump the baby in a trash can,” said Jeffrey Lower, a patron of the deli where the baby was found. “She knew what she was doing.”
Another customer, Carol Baumuller, said she could not judge the mother.
“You don’t know what that child is going through,” she said.
“She must have been so scared. She probably had no support system. It’s a terrible thing to happen to a 15-year-old. She’s a child herself.”
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Not quite the same, now that simple information gathering source is really something, simply because of the fact that they broadcast not one, but two horrific town events to the entire nation (a gas explosion two-three weeks earlier happened from across my school). Now I don't mind broadcasting these events to the nation, people need to know, people want to know, but when I observed the local newspapers and some TV news station was just treating it as a part of their business plan, then just saying "It's a tragic event," then immediately start laughing their heads off, I now start to treat major news natworks and some local ones as just plain jackheads.
I happened to know very closely the two individuals(Father & Mother) in the article above, and for their sakes I'll keep their names confidential, and from my POV everything that they report about this is just insulting to both of the families.
But, aside from that, what is the 'online-public' view on the news networks, both major and local.