Press At Matches

[BSeevers]

Hi

I saw that some people were posting that the press would never be at a range.

Well the Dayton Daily News(Cox liberal rag) was at my Tuesday night league match, again, last week interviewing about CCW and competition shooting. They took some pics. Yours truly, in STI garb, was on page five, last Friday. 3 other shooters were also quoted. This is the important point. I think you need to think about what you would say when questioned about the sport or CCW. The reporter was fishing for a story. Asked me if I had "pulled" my gun on anyone. Asked if this was Combat training. We said no its Practical Competition Sport Shooting. This is the third time I have been inverviewed by the press about shooting. Dayton has around a million or so people total in the city and surrounding counties.

This is why we have a rule about no "Kill Them All" shirts allowed. What if I was wearing one of those instead of a STI shirt?

I would not ban a new shooter with a funky shirt, but maybe have a man to man private talk.

[AikiDale]

Well said Bill. The best way to grow our sport, and maintain our right to keep and bear arms, is for the public, through the media, to see we are ordinary people having fun with guns and not a group of weirdo gun nuts waiting for a chance to shoot someone.

Good Job!

[dirtypool40]

Good post Bill.

I had my own experience with the press back in 02.

There was a "clean" CCW shoot in town and the local liberal rag aka the "Orlando Slantenil" went fishing for a story.

They ended up calling East Orange Shooting Sports, and talking Dick Divittorio and Ian McPhereson, both great guys and USPSA shooters. These guys kept a level head and knew how to handle it.

Rather than just let some mall ninja spout doctrine at them, They called shooters they KNEW were smart enough to represent all of us, and asked if we would talk to the reporter. And against their better judgement they also called me.

After talking with the reporter for over an hour on the phone, where it was obvious he was looking for a mini-rambo vigilante, he asked if he could come out and take my picture practicing.

I thought a lot about it but finally agreed. On My terms.

I would not point a gun at the camera, I wore ear plugs and eye protection for any shot where it implied I was actually shooting, and for the "Concealed" shots, I wasn't scowling or wearing any of my wardrobe of tough guy shirts.

They took one shot of me all dolled up in match gear (like you in your STI shirt) and another raising the REGLAR OLE GOLF SHIRT I wear to conceal my compact Kimber CCW gun. No Thunder Ranch HAt, no Psycho Vest. NO SCOWL.

The story was kinda slanted, as could be expected, but I really thought all the "gun folks" interviewed did a pretty good job of presenting our best side, in spite of it. Although they mis quoted me a bit and tried to make things more "Walter Mitty", I think we came out alright. Like Dale said, I kept trying to make the point that we were "ordinary people having fun with guns and not a group of weirdo gun nuts waiting for a chance to shoot someone", and on the CCW side, just had the means to exercise a RIGHT should it become NECESSARY.

Of course, when it hit the newstands I was an instant celebrity boob at the range.

[ipscron2000]

dirtypool40

I made a statement in another thread and someone said that the press never shows up and I take it as "don't worry about it".

Your story exemplifies exactly what I was saying. You and your buddies are great guys who shoot because it's fun and challenging. Even though you went to great lengths to show the reporter that your not a commando, he was trying like hell to make you out to be one if he could. It makes for good press and sells papers or air time.

I heard a reporter once call a 9mm and "9mm Cannon!" WHAT! A cannon?

Journalism at its worst.

I could write a 1000 word essay on this subject and just get more pissed off... Where is my whiskey bottle.

[SiG Lady]

Like I said, we're all ROLE MODELS and need to be concerned about SETTING AN EXAMPLE for anyone and everyone at any time. As a former media person, I adopted an attitude about myself that simply said, "The mike is always live, you're always on camera, and the tape is always rolling. Behave yourself."

[scooterj]

There WILL be local news coverage at the Louisiana Gator Classic in September. Propper attire will be required.

[George]

We had the local news come to our range quite a number of years back to do a story about Angelo Spagnoli (Angelo had just won the Steel Challenge). Even though it was a straight up story on competition shooting, the on-camera guy from the station played the "I'm a bad ass Rambo" routine when he shot a simple drill with a loaner racegun rig.

You cannot be too careful with the media PERIOD

--

Regards,

[Liota]

Our club asked if the media wanted to shoot a match. We were setting up a charity match and let them shoot some stages. Glock graciously provided firearms and we provided the ammunition. We handed out medals to the top media competitors. It was a blast. We had media from two and three towns over come shoot the match. Fun was had by all and our publicity could not have been more positive.

So, what happened after that? They asked to do it again the next year! It was cool!

L

[shred]

We had some local TV guys come by a pin shoot one day while doing a story series on "wierd sports" or some such.

They filmed a few of us shooting and we let the reporter and camera guy have a whack at the pins. Only the camera guy hit any. But on TV that night, they showed the reporter shooting away and cut to.. a closeup of the pins as I shot them off.

I've also seen/talked to media at IPSC matches a few times over the years, and I bet there have been a few more I didn't know about.

Major matches often have media presence of one sort or another.

[eerw]

Try working in a newsroom...

some of the reporters will drive you crazy with their youthful ignorance..

in general..they try hard..but they don't get it..fortunately..it has gotten to the point that most of the reporters will ask their questions when firearms come up or there is a question on crime stories and they are trying for local reaction..

even got to take a couple of out to the range so they could experience different rifles and handguns..

Not too sound bias..but I have found TV journalism the worst..they work in segments of seconds..so time to get a message out is short..so you really got to watch the short sound bytes..

found this little tidbit as food for thought when you watch, listen or read your news:

Fl Appellate Court Rules Media Can Legally Lie

By Mike Gaddy

SierraTimes.com

On February 14, a Florida Appeals court ruled there is absolutely

nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a

major press organization. The court reversed the $425,000 jury verdict

in favor of journalist Jane Akre who charged she was pressured by Fox

Television management and lawyers to air what she knew and documented

to be false information. The ruling basically declares it is

technically not against any law, rule, or regulation to deliberately

lie or distort the news on a television broadcast.

On August 18, 2000, a six-person jury was unanimous in its conclusion

that Akre was indeed fired for threatening to report the station's

pressure to broadcast what jurors decided was "a false, distorted, or

slanted" story about the widespread use of growth hormone in dairy

cows. The court did not dispute the heart of Akre's claim, that Fox

pressured her to broadcast a false story to protect the broadcaster

from having to defend the truth in court, as well as suffer the ire of

irate advertisers.

Fox argued from the first, and failed on three separate occasions, in

front of three different judges, to have the case tossed out on the

grounds there is no hard, fast, and written rule against deliberate

distortion of the news. The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron

Rupert Murdock, argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right

to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves.

In its six-page written decision, the Court of Appeals held that the

Federal Communications Commission position against news distortion is

only a "policy," not a promulgated law, rule, or regulation.

Fox aired a report after the ruling saying it was "totally vindicated"

by the verdict.

[Rob Boudrie]

Clubs should also have a designated contact to deal with any news event which could happen. It's not always going to be as simple as getting a call before a competition.

If something is sufficiently interesting which is in any way connected with the club, the press will be out in droves asking questions, and the club needs to put forth a proper image. When I faced this situation at my club, I limited my comments to the press to "I think you can part the satellite trucks over there" and "I have no comment to make, the club president is doing the speaking for our organizaiton."

[cking]

Live and Learn, I stand humbly admonished.

[Ted Murphy]

I had a journalist get my phone number off IDPA.com's web page and she called me. Talked to her for a bit, then she asked some odd questions.

More or less, what she was asking is if perhaps gun laws should be written to exclude groups that are statistically more likely to commit crimes. OR failing that, maybe make it illegal to own guns in the ghetto.

I thought about that for a bit, realized she was trying to get a gunowner or two on record saying something racist- so I told here self defense was an right all Americans had regardless of color or where they live and told her I had to go.

We had a death at our range a few years ago, rifle blew up and killed the poor fellow. I was there shortly afterwards and the media swarmed on us like a bed of locusts. Not knowing what tact the club management wanted to take, I told them I didn't know what happend and then told them they were not members so they had to leave, locking the gate behind me. That may or may not have been the right thing to do but I figured it's better to be brusque than say too much.

Ted

[Matthew_Mink]

Journalism at its worst.

I could write a 1000 word essay on this subject and just get more pissed off... Where is my whiskey bottle.    

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah but Ron all jounalists aren't bad. Remember the first time you held the Intro to USPSA at our club? Remember the new guy that was shooting a new CZ? Turns out he works for the AR Democrat Gazette as a photographer. He later approached me and said that the DemGaz wanted to do a story on me. He pushed it through himself, hand picked the reporter and it was a VERY postive story on competition shooting and guns in general. For being in a liberal paper I was shocked and amazed. Plus our club got some more good press. They are not all bad, just the other 99.999999999999999999% are.

[diehli]

"The mike is always live, you're always on camera, and the tape is always rolling.  Behave yourself."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hrm... that's the reason I don't behave myself. I'd rather be called an ass than a fake.

Yeah but Ron all jounalists aren't bad... just the other 99.999999999999999999% are. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just like liars... er, lawyers... and politicians.

BTW, I used to be a "journalist." It's not us you have to worry about... it's the sales guys.