Victoria Vass
The main reason I would not run this on television is because it is not necessary for the public to see it. It is not news that the public ‘deserves’ to know. By this I mean that this man’s death did not change the course of our government, society, etc. This news would have been mainly important to baseball fans, where for them this would indicate that a beloved umpire would be gone and they would mourn this loss. Most likely, those fans would have seen this live either on television or in the stadium as it happened. Simply telling the public that he died on the field of a heart attack is enough due to the nature of his death it would be shocking for his family and friends to see this footage over and over. This was live television so many people would have already seen it happen, which could also be reasoning to airing it. Since it has already been aired and so many people watched it, there is less harm in broadcasting it in the news. His death was not gruesome; it looks like he had fainted from the heat or other health implication. The footage is not a scene where a child would feel scared if they saw it. Viewers may feel obligated to see this since it was already once broadcasted. If I were broadcasting this, I would ensure his family knows before broadcasting it, to ensure they do not find out through the news. After this I would get permission from his family to broadcast it, in case they are not comfortable with it airing again. A reason this could be good to air is to raise awareness for heart disease and obesity. He had prior health problems and his death was a result of those concerns. If I was the producer, I would not air this. The umpire was not murdered he died from a health issue. There is no criminal at large where people need to be concerned for their own safety due to a man hunt in New York. This is no crime nor will there be an investigation, his cause of death was determined within the hour. I would not exploit a mans innocent death due to his health problems for television. I would let the anchor speak about the umpire and play an old clip or a slide show of the umpire in his memory to respect him, his family, and his fans. Since he was a well respected umpire, him and his fans deserve a commemoration on that evening’s broadcast. Showing this video would be highly disrespectful, personally I would not want a video of my family or myself of that nature to be aired on the news. This footage should only be used as evidence that his death was in fact a heart attack, not for exploiting someone’s death.