Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lorne who wrote (17031)	9/8/2002 11:37:07 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 23908

First lady urges limits on 9/11 coverage By Laurence McQuillan, USA TODAY URL: usatoday.com WASHINGTON — First lady Laura Bush says television networks should show restraint this week when broadcasting images of last year's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center because the trauma is still "so raw" for most Americans, particularly children. She also advises parents to shield youngsters from the graphic scenes by either turning off the TV or taking young children out of the room. Laura Bush talks with USA TODAY in an interview held in the first-floor library at the White House. By Tim Dillon, USA TODAY "It'll be a very emotional time. It's already starting to be," Bush said in an interview with USA TODAY. "There's already been a lot of television coverage and newspaper stories about the day. I think it will be several weeks of a very emotional time for all of us. (Related: First lady urges acts of kindness). "People need to be very careful about making sure their children don't see it so often and certainly make sure younger children don't watch it at all," she said. "A lot of children will be confused with it and think it is current." The first lady said it's important for the nation to experience "a time of remembrance ... and mourning" for the almost 3,000 people killed last Sept. 11. She accompanies President Bush on Wednesday when he visits Ground Zero in New York, the Pentagon and the crash site of United Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pa. "In some ways, it seems like a long time since Sept. 11th, but in a lot of ways it is so fresh, so raw," she said. "I think that's what we're going to find on the anniversary." All the major television networks plan daylong coverage of the anniversary Wednesday. Bush says they should limit showing particularly vivid images, such as the hijacked jets crashing into the World Trade Center and the collapse of the twin towers, scenes shown repeatedly a year ago. "I think they should. I hope they will," she said. "I mean, not just show it over and over and over." At the least, Bush suggested that network anchors "warn their viewing audience before they show something, so parents can turn the television off or walk out of the room with their children." Although each network will determine its own policy, the industry is aware of the impact of the horrific scenes on the public. A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken last week asked Americans whether the networks should show scenes of the towers collapsing on Sept. 11. Though 54% said yes, a sizeable 43% said no. "I can speak confidently that all of us are sensitive to this and share the same concerns the first lady has raised," said Brian Williams, an anchor for NBC and MSNBC. "We, too, have children. We, too, worry about the impact on them." At the same time, Williams said, "we have to balance the legitimate interests" for showing the scenes. "Six months ago, the reasons (for showing the graphic images) weren't as strong as they will be on the anniversary." He said there may be value in giving viewers advance notice. "We've done that in the past," he says. Network officials note that they have refrained from broadcasting grisly scenes from the tragedy, such as video images of victims plunging to their deaths to escape the World Trade Center inferno. TV audiences in other parts of the world have been exposed to those images. Studies done after the Oklahoma City bombing have found that children were traumatized by watching television coverage of that event. "Children are more vulnerable than adults," said Grace Christ, an expert on childhood trauma at Columbia University who has spent the past year working with the widows and families of New York City firefighters killed on Sept. 11. She offered this advice to parents: "Monitor the degree of exposure your children are having, and think about whether it is really useful to them or not. Be conscious of the fact that some images are more stressful for them, such as the towers and the destruction and the damage. There may be other images of memorials or personal stories that are less violent, less scary. "Generally, kids can tolerate intense emotions for only brief periods of time," Christ said. Mindy Fullilove, a professor of clinical psychiatry at New York State Psychiatric Institute and a founder of NYC Recovers, a coalition of social groups formed to deal with the aftermath of the attacks, said it's good to think about the anniversary and the emotions it may stir. "You can get too mired in this very sad occasion," she said. "What we need are new images ... of the real heroes" — the spouses of those killed a year ago who are trying to keep themselves and their families going.