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Jail mug. Darren Sanders, 33, was arrested Thursday on charges of assaulting and exploiting a 67-year-old New Smyrna Beach woman he was hired to care for, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. Among the other allegations was that he tore off her Medic alert pendant, ripped out phone lines in her home and threatening to behead or drown her cat. The woman was hospitalized after suspicious bank officials took notice of her battered face after she and her caretaker arrived.
There's an old journalism adage: If it bleeds, it leads." I was watching local news on an Orlando TV station the other night and I was nauseated by one of the reports, that of the elderly New Smyrna Beach woman taken advantage of and beaten by her much younger caretaker.
Much of the local crime news comes from press releases issued by law enforcement agencies led locally by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
It's not unusual for the public information office to release several press releases in a daily cycle. Sometimes, the Sheriff's PIOs, led by former newspaper reporter Gary Davidson, who has worked under Sheriff Ben Johnson and former Sheriff Bob Vogel, will omit information on a victim, requiring the media outlet interested in knowing more to specically ask for it. It's not to create a hassle, but rather to ask for consideration for a victim's special circumstances resulting from being victimized such as fear.
The news release identified her only as a 67-year-old New Smyrna Beach woman.
Of course, the media, or anyone else for that matter, could ask for the name of the victim, as long as it is not a victim of a sexual assault or a child, exempt catergories from public disclosure.
The TV reporter and camera crew not only reported her name, but showed a brief video footage of her in her hospital bed reiterating how the accused threatened to behead her cat or drown it. The woman was crying. It was a sickening sight.
I felt like the camera crew took advantage of her for viewership.
The producers would likely say something like the video speaks for itself and illustrates the pain crime victims feel. That is true, but isn't it obvious without the drama being played out in a hospital bed?
I'll bet the woman's family members would not have allowed this if they were aware of what was broadcast. If anything, this should serve as a litmus test for all journalists to be more sensitive.
Getting the story live is one thing. Rehashing it later for the sake of video presentation is another.
Yes, TV news relies on video because it is a visual medium. As someone who has covered many crime stories here in Volusia County since 1995, I've been on both sides of the issue so I don't mean to come off as judgmental.
It just seems to me that seeing the video of this woman crying on a TV news report stuck in my craw as insensitive and overkill.
Sometimes a little understatement goes further in getting the news out. This is one of those examples.