We had a perfect view of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade from 48th and Broadway. There were 14 giant balloons, 37 smaller balloons, 27 floats and 10 high school marching bands–plus the Beach Boys, Carrie Underwood, and Johnny Bench. To say nothing of 2.5 million others watching along the route. (When I ran the NYC marathon, there were an estimated 2 million lining the route. That made the race easier — it only seemed about 25.2 miles.)
Four blocks after it passed us, a 515-pound M&M ballon was blown into a light pole, puncturing it. As it went down, it pulled the light fixture off, causing it to drop down and injure two sisters (one of whom has CP and was in a wheelchair). All we knew was that emergency workers came rushing by, but we had no idea why.
The next morning the NY Times scathed NBC because the network decided they didn’t want their sunny broadcast interrupted by bad news. Not only did they not mention the accident and the injuries, but they also substituted footage from the 2004 parade when it came time for the M&M balloon to pass their cameras.
Al Roker pressed on with his script: “Will these classic candymen get out of this delicious dilemma? Hard to say, but when it comes to sweetness, Yellow and Red continue to melt your heart, but not in your hand.”
Bad news is so hard to deliver, especially when people are in a mood to celebrate. The names Amos, Micah, Hosea, and Isaiah (eighth century prophets) come to mind!
I read about the M&M balloon incident in the paper over the weekend.
I thought that NBC’s handling of the whole thing seemed a little strange.
I think your correlation with the eighth century prophets is a good one.
Bad news is a tough sell when the people want to party.
‘bad news is hard to deliver’
Great observation.
Where is Jim McKay when you need him?
That’s interesting since NBC and the other networks have no problem reporting nothing but bad news from Iraq.
Speaking of M&Ms, here’s one for you.
http://www.mms.com/us/mpire/
Bad news IS hard to deliver…yet NBC managed to show the Beach Boys! Yikes, I didn’t realize Mike Love was still alive!
“Not only did they not mention the accident and the injuries, but they also substituted footage from the 1994 parade when it came time for the M&M balloon to pass their cameras.”
This might not be a controversy, except that it makes one wonder what would happen if they took the same approach to more important issues.
This comes to mind–Faithful in little, faithful in much. Unfaithful in little, unfaithful in much.
I read that the girls who were injured plan on NOT filing any lawsuits. THAT should be major news of the day!!!
I remember when OJ Simpson interrupted game 5 of the NBA finals. It was the NBA finals You can’t just interupt them with a man driving down the road. Then several months later a major world leader was assasinated on a Saturday afternoon. The network barely blinked their coverage of a regular season college football game. Reality is less important than ratings anymore, even on reality tv.
Probably the worst news I’ve ever had to give someone was when I broke up with my boyfriend in high school. We had been together almost two years and really “in love.” (Whatever that means, when you’re 16.) It was a week before Christmas. Even worse, I was dumping him for somebody else — a detail he didn’t know about until later.
We were on my couch and I delivered the speech I had rehearsed, then I waited for his reaction. From the look on his face, it didn’t look good. All of a sudden, my dad — who thought we were just sitting in there watching TV — popped into the room.
“Hey! I’m about to get this roll of film developed and I need to use up the last shot. Say cheese!”
*Click*
What an awful, awful moment.
She really is the Cofc Erma Bombeck, isn’t she ?! Too funny Deana.
I didn’t think much about what NBC did because the parade was a major entertanment show for them, not a news event. We all know the show must go on… But if they showed footage from last year and acted like it was this years, that is a little odd.
I like the faithful in a little quote.
I saw the balloon crash on CBS.
I keep waiting for Bush to be blamed for the balloon crashing.
Stopping the parade to perform on a stage is a bit too commercialized for me.
We opted to watch the Atlanta Falcons defeat the Detroit Lions.
Wow. Johnny Bench was there? That would have been too cool!
I hate to throw a damper on this light discussion today, but I know from previous posts that you all believe in the power of prayer. I beg you to pray for the Dobson family. Kevin and Krissy Dobson are a young couple that has been displaced by Hurricane Katrina due to extensive damage to their home. They were in Houston until recently when they were able to move in with Krissy’s family. Their entire extended family was affected by Katrina. So no one had a home to gather the family in after the storm passed and the flooding subsided until very recently. Krissy went into preterm labor last week and delivered a tiny baby boy, Joshua James Dobson, at just 24 weeks. Krissy is very weak from a severe loss of blood and trama from an early delivery. Baby Joshua passed away this morning. My heart is broken for this family. They have already suffered so much and to have this happen is so tragic, but to have it happen right here at the holidays just seems so cruel. Please add this family to your prayer list.
God bless us all and help us remember to be thankful for what and who we have in our lives.
Kelley, thanks for the message. What a hard time the Dobsons are having. I’ll keep in my prayers.
Mark
Yes, thanks, Kelley. So much for one family to go through! I’m praying for them this morning.
Thanks Mike.
Hey Mike,
I’m posting this comment in an earlier post so as not to draw undue attention to myself or my little blog. I recently blogged a paragraph about the Zoe conference and the impact it is continuing to have on me. I think you and the other Zoe “big-wigs” will be pleased. The message got through to at least one person. Thanks so much.
Ed